Residents of an East Village apartment building say the city abruptly kicked them out of their homes without notice due to structural issues caused by the construction of a luxury high-rise next door — leaving families living in homeless shelters in the heart of the holiday season.
“Please help us,” wept Susan Ingram, 59, a yoga instructor who has lived at 642 East 14th Street for 32 years and was among those forced to move out without notice last month.
“I am traumatized since the vacate order, sleeping on couches, and some of us have no other place to go but to live in shelters,” she said.
Ingram was one of four residents who spoke outside the 120-year-old, five-story brick building on Thursday, imploring the city, their landlord and the developers behind the glass high-rise next door — Madison Realty Capital — to make their old home habitable or else provide them with dependable housing immediately.
She and her neighbors say they were given just hours to pack up and leave the building on November 28 after the Department of Buildings (DOB) issued a “full vacate order” order, citing “structural stability of building compromised due to construction operations taking place at 644 E. 14th Street.”
“Heavy cracks in the exterior and interior in addition to separation noted at door frames and floor from wall,” the order said.
The displaced residents were given emergency housing provided by the American Red Cross, but those temporary accommodations soon expired and left them scrambling to find places to stay.
“The past two-plus weeks have been pretty harrowing,” said Michael Hawley, 60, a resident of 30 years. “When we got the vacate order from the Department of Buildings and I was told I had just a few hours to get my things together and leave, it was the kind of terrifying moment you don’t soon forget.”
Mohamed Dawod, 50, a father supporting four kids as a doorman, was left living in a shelter nearly 100 blocks away on 129th Street and Broadway. His kids, ages 5 to 11, attend East Village public schools and have been missing school since they were forced out of their home.
“I have four young children who miss their neighborhood, who miss their school, who miss our friends,” he said. “I wish nobody would go through this, what we experienced in the last couple weeks.”
Other residents, including elderly people with health problems, have been left sleeping on bare floors in shelters or in the cramped apartments of friends, according to a statement issued by the tenants.
Problems with the construction of the neighboring project — a 24 story, 197 unit building, glittering in stark contrast to the Con Ed power station, brown StuyTown blocks and rows of classic East Village tenement-style buildings in the area — were reported as far back as 2017 when residents at 642 complained to the DOB that the entire building was shaking when piledrivers were operated at the site.
The complaint was dismissed by the DOB, according to records, after a visiting inspector found no shaking because piledriving wasn’t taking place at the time of their visit.
Two years later in 2019, 642 owner Jeremy Lebewohl sued the previous owner of the neighboring property, Opal Holdings, alleging they caused damage by doing foundation work too close to his building, according to local blog EV Grieve, which first reported on the residents’ plight.
That lawsuit is ongoing, but the following year, Madison Realty Capital bought the property from Opal for $31.3 million.
In February, another complaint was made to the DOB citing cracks in 642’s facade and walls and voicing concerns about the building’s stability, according to public records. But that complaint was dismissed because DOB inspectors reported no cracks when the visited, the records show.
Digging began again at the site in July, according to residents, who said they immediately began to see more cracks forming on their walls and spidering across their ceilings.
“I’m very angry that nothing was done to prevent what has happened, and that I am now couch surfing at friends’ apartments,” said Hawley, explaining he felt ignored by the city and his own landlord, all of whom he claimed turned a blind eye to repeated warnings.
Lebewohl told The Post he warned the city that construction next door could compromise his building — and even hired an engineer to access the property who “warned them that what they were doing was excessive.”
“We contacted the [DOB] ourselves to come and check it out. A month ago they said it was fine. Three weeks ago they said it was fine. They were there several times. We were on top of this,” said Lebewohl, who also owns the famous 2nd Avenue Deli.
“We were hoping someone would do something to stop the construction next door and make sure it was being done in a safer way.”
For now, 642 is being reinforced to prevent collapse, said Lebewohl, but its future — and tenants’ prospects for returning home — look grim.
According to Lebewohl’s attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, three independent engineers hired to assess the situation each concluded the building would have to be demolished. Those findings have not been made official by the city.
Madison Realty Capital “acted like cowboys,” Bailey said. “They literally caused a building in really good shape to now have to be demolished. And this is a real tragedy.”
Madison Realty Capital has begun reaching out to the 642 tenants to begin talks about organizing housing, though it remains unclear how far along any plans are or what they might look like.
The developer didn’t immediately comment Thursday.
A stop work order has been put in effect at the construction site, the DOB said, adding that work was being done to stabilize the building and that the department would continue to monitor the situations at both properties.