169 East 117 Street in Manhattan. Image Credit: CityLand.

Owner’s rooftop apartment did not conform to plans filed by architect with the Department of Buildings. In 2003 the Anastasia Pleskun Living Trust purchased the building located at 169 East 117 Street.  The Trust hired a licensed architect in 2004 who drew up and filed self-certified plans, a process that bypassed a full review of the plans by the Department of Buildings. (read more…)

Owner converted two-family Queens home into a six-family residence.  Jimming Zhao owns a residential building located at 143-10 Beech Avenue, Queens with a certificate of occupancy for a one or two-family dwelling. On October 17, 2016 an inspector from the Department of Buildings visited the premises and found the residence altered and occupied by six families. The second floor had four single room occupancies and the first floor had two single room occupancies. (read more…)

W Hotel at 541 Lexington Ave., Manhattan. Image Credit: CityLaw.

The W New York ordered to install 19 new grease traps. On November 3, 2016, a Department of Environmental Protection officer found that the grease interceptors at the W Hotel at 541 Lexington Ave., Manhattan did not conform to DEP’s standards. The inspector directed the hotel owner to install and maintain properly-sized grease interceptors in seventeen designated locations on the first and second floor at the hotel. On March 1, 2017, a DEP officer cited the hotel for failing to comply with the order. (read more…)

Image Credit: Triton.

Contractor hired to repair Hurricane Sandy damage failed to list dispute when seeking time extensions on project. In 2009, the Department of Design and Construction awarded Triton Structural Concrete, Inc. a $105,003,443 contract to rebuild and repair various beachfront structures in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The contract required Triton to install prefabricated modular buildings on driven pile foundations along several sections of the beachfront. (read more…)

Manee-Seguine Homestead in Staten Island. Image Credit: Wiki.

Owner of Staten Island landmark who failed to maintain property forced to give landmark to City after accruing $8.55 million in regulatory fines. The Manee-Seguine Homestead in Staten Island was built by Paulus Regrenier in 1670. The City designated the Homestead a City landmark in 1984. In September 2008, the Department of Buildings declared the Homestead was dangerous and dilapidated and ordered its demolition. The Landmarks Commission intervened, preventing the Homestead’s demolishment. Seguine Bay Estates bought the property a year later, in 2009, but neglected to make the repairs. In 2013, Buildings ordered Seguine to make repairs. Three years later, in 2016, Landmarks sued Seguine in Richmond County Supreme Court to force Seguine to make the repairs. Seguine filed a hardship application with the court, stating that the Homestead was too dilapidated to repair, and any repairs would exceed the cost of the lot’s market value. (read more…)