Hell's Kitchen Homes Turned Into Illegal Hotels, City Says

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — A landlord is facing a lawsuit from the city for converting rent-stabilized apartments in Hell's Kitchen buildings into illegal hotel units, city officials announced Wednesday.

The Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement brought a lawsuit against Big Apple Management — a landlord and building management company — for illegally converting rent-stabilized units in seven buildings on West 47th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, city officials said. Big Apple Management has promoted illegal transient use in the buildings by advertising units on sites such as Airbnb, officials said.

"This is about protecting housing meant for New Yorkers, and preserving a sense of safety and community in a residential neighborhood,” Christian Klossner, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement, said in a statement. "The message of this action is clear—if landlords turn a blind eye to rampant illegal short-term rentals, then we will see them in court."

In addition to advertising units on short-term rental sites, long-term building tenants were neglected, city officials said. The landlord has not taken any action to fix 400 open violations issued by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development in the seven buildings.

"We hope that the long abuses by Big Apple Management, in their unlawful use of apartments as illegal hotels, will come to a quick end through these legal proceedings,” Christopher A. LeBron, a resident of one of the buildings and president of the West 47th Street Tenants' Association said in a statement.

Big Apple Management did not address violations, but did install smart reader devices that allow electronic entry to the seven buildings via smart phone, keycard, or numeric code. These devices are often installed to allow easy access by short-term renters, city officials said.

Big Apple Management has racked up 50 illegal hotel complaints pertaining to the seven buildings since 2011, city officials said. The buildings have also accrued 150 building and fire violations, four building and fire criminal summonses and five advertising summonses, city officials said. Big Apple Management was fined $120,000 for the building and fire violations, but have only paid about $30,000.

The city's lawsuit against Big Apple Management is its thirteenth illegal hotel lawsuit against a landlord promoting illegal transient use, officials said. With seven buildings, the Big Apple Management lawsuit is the largest to date.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who represents parts of Hell's Kitchen, condemned Big Apple Management for exacerbating the neighborhood's housing crisis.

"Every day, tenants in New York City are being forced out of their homes due to landlord harassment and skyrocketing rents, and illegal hotel operators like Big Apple Management are emblematic of this crisis," Johnson said in a statement. "For too long, Hell’s Kitchen residents have had to watch the buildings they call home transformed into transient hotels that lack the basic safety and security features that any legal hotel would be legally required to provide."

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