Crown Heights Landlord Among City's Top 10 Worst: Public Advocate

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — A landlord who owns dozens of Crown Heights homes was named among the top 10 worst landlords in New York City.

Alfred Thompson, who owns at least 13 Crown Heights buildings, ranked eighth among the 100 landlords named as owners of the city's worst managed buildings in the Public Advocate's annual round-up released Thursday.

"This is mold, this is rats, this is leaks," Jumaane Williams said in an interview with Pix11. "These are the worst of the worst."

Thompson owns 15 buildings whose high number of violations with the Buildings and Housing Development and Preservation departments earned him the eighth spot on the list, according to the report.

In Crown Heights, Thompson's 13 buildings are home to 89 units that reported an average of 717 violations in 2021, according to the report.

Among Thompson's buildings is 1515 St. Johns Place, a 24-unit building near Rochester Avenue that's racked up an average of 222 open HPD violations per month in 2021, city records show.

The building's tenants report rats, mice, roaches, mold, lead paint, broken windows, scalding hot water spewing from the taps, according to HPD records.

The 100 worst landlords named in the Public Advocate office's 2021 report own 463 buildings with 9,384 units that averaged about 55,000 open Housing Preservation and Development violations per month.

In his television interview, Williams called on the incoming administration to pass the Landlord Accountability Act which would put an end to policy that allows landlords to self-certify repairs have been completed.

The New York City Housing Authority once again claimed an honorary mention as one of the most negligent building owners in New York City, prompting Williams to declare on air the city's worst landlord was itself.

The public advocate also put the blame on Mayor Bill de Blasio for conditions that have seen NYCHA work orders skyrocket from 320,000 in 2019 to nearly 460,000 in November 2021.

"The de Blasio Administration is leaving NYCHA worse than they found it," Williams said. "Who would have thought that?"

Alfred Thompson's Crown Heights Building