The Windermere Building, an apartment building at West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue, has racked up hundreds of violations ranging from fire hazards and defective fire escapes to broken flooring and even falling debris.
The condition of the building, combined with the eyesore of the green sidewalk sheds surrounding it for the past 14 years, has finally moved the city to act.
The owner, Mark (Moshe) Tress, faces a lawsuit to address the allegedly dangerous conditions caused by neglect of the property or face thousands of dollars in fines.
This isn’t Tress’ first rodeo at the building, situated at 400-406 West 57th Street and 869 Ninth Avenue. Windermere Properties LLC pleaded guilty in a criminal case only two years ago for failing to maintain the building, according to the New York Post.
Despite numerous subsequent orders to bring the building to code, the problems persist. The City’s Department of Buildings said, “The sidewalk shed has remained in place and the façade has remained unfixed.”
The New Jersey-based Tress achieved the 32nd spot on the public advocate’s “worst landlord” list last year for racking up almost 800 violations including those on another property, 4683 Park Avenue.
The building’s last tenants finally moved out in 2008, around the time Tress purchased it with plans to renovate.
The Real Deal reported three years ago that the city’s land use committee granted a special permit to convert the Windermere into a mixed-use commercial and residential building.
Tress had plans then to convert the building into 55,000 square feet of office space with a top-floor restaurant and rooftop bar along with 6,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
A longtime resident told the Post that the appearance of the building has improved over the years, although the construction work has been irregular and sporadic. He said, “They’ll work on it for a while, then you’ll see nothing,” sometimes for weeks or months.
The enormous brick building in Hell’s Kitchen has a tortured history. It was built in 1881 as a home for single women and female artists. In the 1970s, several floors were converted to small, rent-controlled units, but the landlords reportedly harassed the tenants by blocking their doors with concrete blocks and padlocking the entrance. The owners were eventually convicted and a Japanese construction group purchased the building in 1986.
Mayor Eric Adams has been cracking down on landlords’ inappropriate use of the nearly 9,000 sidewalk sheds with his “Get Sheds Down” initiative unveiled last year. Adams says they block sunlight, deter customers from businesses, and serve as a “magnet” for illegal activity.
— Christina Previte
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