Another Rat-Filled Harlem Lot Needs A Cleanup, City Says

HARLEM, NY — For the second time in as many months, an empty Harlem lot needs an emergency cleanup after becoming infested by rats, the city said in a court filing this week.

This time, the lot in question is at 2535 Frederick Douglass Blvd., on the southwest corner of West 136th Street. It was formerly home to a grocery store building that later became Healing From Heaven Temple, until developer Moujan Vahdat purchased it in 2015 and demolished the building four years later.

Since then, the lot has sat vacant, as plans for an eight-story apartment building on the site have failed to materialize.

Then, in November and December of last year, inspectors from the city's Sanitation Department visited the site and found gnawed plastic bags, suggesting that rats have taken up residence there, according to court papers filed Thursday. Photos taken in December by health inspectors and submitted in the court filings show the lot strewn with garbage, including the chewed-on bags.

The city wrote to the listed owner — an LLC controlled by Vahdat — in December, requesting access to the lot. But it received no reply, and the unsanitary state has persisted, the city says.

The city is now asking a judge to grant an emergency order granting access to the lot, "for the purposes of clean-up and/or extermination." It follows another emergency cleanup that the city requested last month, for a different lot on East 125th Street.

Vahdat's purchase of the old Healing From Heaven building has come under scrutiny for other reasons. Last year, state investigators alleged that the pastor of a different Harlem church had improperly profited by selling his church to Vahdat, who promised to build housing on the site but failed to execute on those plans.

Following that deal, the pastor, Kevin Griffin, also introduced Vahdat to his church's sister institution — Healing from Heaven Temple — which was facing financial difficulties, according to the state. Vahdat ultimately gave Griffin $450,000 in "finder's fees" for facilitating his purchase of the Healing from Heaven building, according to state prosecutors.

Vahdat’s company, Elmo Realty, did not respond to a request for comment about the cleanup order.

Related coverage:

• Harlem Pastor Sold Church To Developer While Pocketing Cash: AG
• Rat-Filled Harlem Lot Must Be Cleaned Up, City Says