Brooklyn's 'Worst' Building Is In Crown Heights, Watchlist Shows

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Rents aren't the only thing soaring this year.

Housing violations were up by nearly 30 percent over last year, according to Public Advocate Jumaane Willams' annual Landlord Watchlist released Tuesday.

This year's list revealed that three of the top ten Brooklyn buildings with the most violations in 2022 were in Crown Heights — including the property at the top of the list.

According to the list, which is compiled by the total average number of open HPD violations a property had over the year, 1055 Bergen Street had nearly 650 HPD violations across its 16 units.

The building is currently an HDFC limited equity co-op operated at least in part by Neighborhood Restore, a non-profit that collaborates with the city to rehabilitate distressed buildings that have been foreclosed on by the city, a process facilitated by the sometimes controversial third-party transfer program.

Prior to the in-rem foreclosure, the building was owned by Shawn Maldon, who is still listed as the head officer of the property as of February 2022, according to HPD records.

Number four on the borough-wide list is 1350 Park Place, another HDFC property that went through in-rem foreclosure in the 1980s.

The building owned by the Mother Gaston Housing Development Fund Company currently has 539 HPD violations in addition to at least two years of city tax liens, making the property vulnerable to foreclosure — or speculators — once again.

And number seven on the list — on the far eastern edge of Crown Heights — is 1588 Eastern Parkway, a three-unit building with 481 violations in 2022.

Owned by Mayer Kessler, according to city records, the property's most common complaints included plumbing and water leaks.

The Public Advocate's office releases the "worst landlords" list every year as a watchdog measure.

This year, it appeared that private landlords racked up housing violations at a staggering level.

"Across the entire list, there were a staggering 69,018 violations, nearly a 30% increase from the previous year," Williams tweeted. "Conditions continue to deteriorate even as the median rent in the city has massively increased."

But it should be noted that the 100 worst landlords listed are only the private landlords.The city itself — NYCHA — also let conditions deteriorate, with 673,990 open work orders, Williams said.

"The city itself remains the overall worst landlord in New York City," Williams tweeted.

You can find and explore the whole list here.

Patch reporter Matt Troutman contributed to this report.