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The city is bringing one of New York’s most high-profile development firms to criminal court over its failure to maintain scaffolding outside of what was once considered the dirtiest hotel in America.
Not much more than a year after the Chetrit Group purchased the then-shuttered Hotel Carter for a whopping $191.8 million in 2015 from a company controlled by the heirs of Vietnamese businessman Tran Dinh Truong did the prolific real estate firm put up the unsightly structure around its facade. Nearly a decade later, it’s still there, and the Department of Buildings is pushing to have it taken down through the legal system.
Company President Meyer Chetrit and his firm could potentially be on the hook for thousands of dollars in fines pending the results of the case, which was filed late last month in Manhattan criminal court. Court documents are not publicly available, and a spokesperson for the legal system did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The case against Chetrit Group is the latest in the DOB’s ongoing effort to rid the city of its ubiquitous scaffolding, meant to keep pedestrians safe as facade work is done to buildings but which routinely stays up for years and becomes an eyesore.
The department currently has 43 open criminal cases against building owners with long-standing sheds, according to DOB spokesperson Ryan Degan. Although the goal of bringing criminal cases is not to win a conviction, Degan said, building owners can be charged with misdemeanors over “aggravated financial penalties” and a court order to fix the building.
Chetrit Group has amassed dozens of violations over the last decade for improperly maintaining both the 22-story building itself, at 250 W. 43rd St. between Seventh and Eighth avenues, along with the shed outside of it — resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in fines. The DOB did not immediately respond to questions whether Chetrit Group was up to date in its payment of these fines. And late last year, the DOB slapped Chetrit with an emergency work order that the company has yet to resolve. Legally, a building’s owner cannot remove a shed until the underlying problems requiring its installation have been fixed, the agency said.
By 2014 Hotel Carter had topped user-generated travel advice platform TripAdvisor’s dirtiest hotel survey for the third time in a row, thanks to claims of vermin infestations, building violations and even a murder on site, according to multiple reports at the time.
In 2022 Chetrit had reportedly planned a modern makeover for the decrepit hotel, near bustling Times Square, securing at the time a $185 million construction loan for its redevelopment. But it’s not clear where exactly that revamp stands now—attempts by Crain’s to reach Chetrit Group were unsuccessful.
The firm is due in court May 14, according to information from the city.
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Julianne Cuba , 2024-04-05 21:06:02
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