Another Rat-Infested Harlem Lot Needs Cleanup, City Says

EAST HARLEM, NY — An empty lot in East Harlem that has sat abandoned and strewn with garbage for years is now infested with rats, according to the city, which is seeking an emergency order to clean the decrepit space.

The lot at 152 East 106th St. sits just east of Lexington Avenue, wedged between two brick apartment buildings. Its owner, Farhadian Mansour, had filed plans in 2016 to build a six-story building on the site, but it has continued to sit empty in the ensuing six years.

Starting in February, inspectors from the city's Sanitation Department made multiple visits to the lot and found "conditions conducive to rat breeding and harborage," according to court papers filed this week.

Subsequent visits revealed similar conditions — including a March 14 visit where workers noticed a live rat and gnawed plastic bags, according to the city.

Photographs taken by the inspectors show the site strewn with wooden planks, cardboard and even a small bicycle. Since it is closed by a locked gate, however, the city has been unable to take any action against the rats.

Last month, the city sent a letter to the site's owner — identified officially as Pennsylvania Holding LLC — requesting access to the lot, but received no response, according to the court filings.

Now, the city's Health Department is asking a judge to grant an emergency order that would allow workers to gain entry and clean up the lot.

This is at least the third rat-cleanup request that the city has filed in the neighborhood this year, following a January request for an empty site on East 125th Street, and another in February for a lot on Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Judges ultimately granted both requests.