A landlord with more than 2000 open Housing Preservation & Development violations is in hot water.
At a rally outside Brooklyn housing court Monday, tenants in the Brownsville residential complex Rutland Plaza decried conditions like black mold, broken elevators and raw sewage that they claim landlord Robyn Lucas-Cora neglected to address despite receiving $96 million in state preservation funding in 2016.
The lawsuit filed by the tenants last month also names HPD and New York State Homes & Community Renewal among the respondents, and seeks to compel corrective action at the 438-unit former Mitchell-Lama complex.
“Instead of gutting out the building and fixing it thoroughly, they put band-aids and left all the problems behind,” Patricia Walters, a 42-year Rutland Plaza tenant working alongside Housing Organizers For People Empowerment, said. “What did you do with $96 million that you couldn’t fix our building thoroughly, so we wouldn’t be going through sewage issues, broken elevators, everything they were supposed to take care of?”
Walters is among a group of tenants withholding rent payments until conditions improve, though not all renters in the building are doing the same for fear of being evicted, according to HOPE organizer Monisa Walker.
A DHCR spokesperson declined to comment whether the state’s 2016 investment came with a regulatory agreement, citing the agency’s policy on pending litigation. An HPD spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
A backlog of HPD violations have proven to be an albatross across administrations, with more than 450,000 active Class C violations in privately owned buildings, more than 70 percent of which have been outstanding for more than a year, New York Focus first reported.
The Mamdani administration’s attempt to clear violations more efficiently includes a centralized location for processing mailed-in or hand-delivered applications that property managers still can’t file online.
“I had half a walkthrough, a quarter of a walkthrough. It was raining inside the building, the stench was unbearable,” Assembly member Monique Chandler-Waterman said. “I stand here with accountability that the city and state have to work together with this owner to make sure we do what’s right.”
A Worst Landlord Watchlist from the Public Advocate’s Office list cites 2101 open HPD violations and 7 DOB violations across Lucas-Cora’s 14 Brooklyn buildings. Her company Amistad Management didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Goodluck said that a rent strike is on the table alongside the tenants’ litigation strategy and other options, claiming the management sabotaged a building-wide town hall meeting earlier this year by removing chairs from Rutland Plaza’s community room.
“They didn’t use the money the way it was supposed to be used,” Goodluck said. “Visual upgrades and then patchwork all along the way.”
What we’re thinking about: What is the biggest step city and state agencies should take to expedite the process of clearing violations? Send a note to ben.miller@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The 2026 NBA champion New York Knicks will have Manhattan streets temporarily named after them, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Monday. The players’ names and jersey numbers will be displayed on blue-and-orange commemorative signs placed on Sixth Avenue blocks that correspond to their jersey numbers.
— Spencer Davis
Closing time
Residential: The most expensive residential sale recorded Monday was $16 million for 275 West 10th Street, 4C. The West Village condo at The Shephard is 3,800 square feet of new construction. Compass’ Hudson Advisory Team has the listing.
Commercial: The most expensive commercial transaction was $31 million for 38 West 21st Street. The Flatiron commercial office building is 12 stories, has 19 units and is 68,500 square feet. Jack Vogel Associates sold the space to an undisclosed LLC.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $45 million for 1 Central Park South, Units 1701, 2, 4 and 6. The Billionaire’s Row condo is 6,000 square feet.
— Joseph Jungermann
Elsewhere…
— Despite the Rent Guidelines Board approving a rent freeze on Thursday, residents of Tracey Towers, a Mitchell-Lama housing development in the Bronx, are facing a 30 percent rent increase over the next four years, Gothamist reported. Six elected officials sent a letter to Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday requesting that he use his authority to drive down the drastic increase.
— New York City public pools opened on Saturday for their 90th annual season, Gothamist reported. Mayor Zohran Mamdani made good on an earlier promise by jumping into one of the pools on opening day, reviving a mayoral tradition that had been abandoned by Mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams.
— Mayor Zohran Mamdani broke ground on a $255 million mixed-use development in the South Bronx, News 12 reported. The development, known as River Commons, will bring an additional 328 affordable homes to the area and feature an expanded public health care center and public green space.
— Spencer Davis
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