![]() ![]() Some residents, however, say that living conditions have only worsened. The development corporation said the building’s work on “elevator modernization” is nearing completion: there are two functioning elevators and a third one being “worked on.” ![]() HDC said the development has scored “satisfactory” over the last several years in separate annual inspections that “observe physical deficiencies and deferred maintenance.” HDC noted that the loans are released in pieces to the landlord based on reviews of completed and requested construction projects that happen at least once a month. HDC says 98% of the work is now complete. Property records show that in 2020, Seaview Towers 2006, LP, received a $29 million loan “for the rehabilitation” of the towers from the New York City Housing Development Corporation, a state public benefit corporation charged with financing affordable housingĪccording to HDC, most of the $29 million loan was used to refinance existing debt at Seaview Towers, with $7 million for repairs including work on asbestos abatement, plumbing, elevators, radiator valves and roofing. The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which is also named in the suit since it enforces the housing maintenance code, “supports the tenants in obtaining repairs and the correction of violations,” according to spokesperson William Fowler. “The fact that they received millions of dollars of public funding and the buildings are in disrepair - that is inexcusable,” said Johnny Thach, a staff attorney at Queens Legal Services representing tenants at one of the buildings.Īlexander Pabst, the attorney representing the landlord, did not respond to inquiries from THE CITY. It has not been fixed despite complaints from residents. Linda Plummer, a tenant in the building for 12 years and a petitioner in the suit, recalled the day in 2021 when a man was shot in the elevator - and feared that similar incidents could happen again because the back entrance does not lock. Today many residents at Seaview Towers also receive federal Section 8 vouchers to help them pay rent.Ī 2021 report from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli found that Seaview Towers had the highest rate of tenant turnover of any Mitchell-Lama rental complex in Queens. The buildings were built in the late 1970s under the state’s Mitchell-Lama program, aimed at providing more affordable housing for middle-income New Yorkers. A-1 Realty Management, a company operated by the Alizios, is also named in the lawsuit as a defendant and “managing agent” of the development. ![]() The lawsuit names Paul and Peter Alizio as “The Head Officer” and “The Officer” of the two buildings. ![]() The development’s current owner, Seaview Towers 2006, LP, purchased the buildings in 2006. These “long-standing and reoccurring conditions” and the landlord’s “failure to address them,” the complaint alleges, “are part of a clear pattern of harassment and neglect … with the intent of making the premises inhabitable” to tenants there, who are “predominantly low-income Black and Brown.” In the lawsuits, one for each building, residents at Seaview Towers allege “widespread neglect and failure to properly maintain and repair” the building’s apartments and common areas, resulting in issues including “constant and reoccurring malfunctioning elevators,” pest and rodent infestations, and a lack of adequate heat and clean water. At a pair of Far Rockaway rental towers, 29 residents have brought two lawsuits demanding repairs from their landlord, who they charge has left the building in a state of disrepair despite receiving more than $29 million in state loans in 2020 to rehabilitate and refinance the 462-unit Mitchell-Lama development. ![]()
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