Illicit Work At Landmarked UES Home 'Makes Life Hell' For Neighbors

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Neighbors are in an uproar after the owner of a historic townhouse built an unpermitted rooftop addition, left the home vacant for years while accruing thousands of dollars in fines — and then returned this week to seek permission for a new construction project.

The controversy centers on 210 East 62nd St., a townhouse built in 1870 between Second and Third avenues, within the Treadwell Farm Historic District. In 2016, after buying the building for $6.5 million, the unidentified owner embarked on a project to enlarge the four-story townhouse with a sloped rooftop addition and a rear extension jutting into its backyard.

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission shot down an initial plan featuring brightly-colored panels that one member said "turns preservation on its head" — but then approved a scaled-down version in December 2016.

Within months, however, neighbors made a startling discovery: the townhouse owner had built a rooftop addition that was about two feet taller and far bulkier than what the city had approved — a cardinal sin in New York's tightly-regulated landmarks world.

As the unpermitted work has drawn multiple rebukes from Community Board 8 and local officials, the townhouse has sat largely empty for the past five years, with gaping holes in its facade that were only boarded up last week under an emergency order from the Department of Buildings, neighbor Vanita Solomon told a Community Board 8 committee on Monday.

"Make life hell"

City Councilmember Keith Powers kicked off Monday's meeting, saying he had heard from "many concerned neighbors" about conditions at the building — including rats, flooding, garbage accumulation, mosquitoes, unsafe sidewalks, unsecured scaffolding, a lack of snow removal, and even "folks who had a beam go through their fireplace."

One former neighbor, Carter Pottash, said he was recently forced to sell his home at 208 East 62nd St. after hearing the 210 owner describe his plans to "assault and/or make life hell" for his neighbors once he moved in.

"After around 40 happy years there, I felt I had to move," Pottash said, adding that the owner had used "obscene words."

Indeed, DOB records show $263,000 in unpaid penalties issued to the current owners, for offenses ranging from missing windows to faulty scaffolding. A DOB spokesperson confirmed the recent emergency orders relating to the open-air facade and built-up water in the basement, adding that inspectors returned on Wednesday and found improved conditions.

The impetus for Monday's meeting was a new application from the townhouse's owner to finally finish the rear-yard extension and largely eliminate the rooftop addition after demolishing the existing one, which representatives admit is larger than what had been allowed.

But board members scoffed at the idea of approving new construction after the prior transgressions, and instead passed a resolution calling on the landmarks commission to revoke the "certificate of appropriateness" that had allowed the 2017 addition to be built in the first place.

"The fact that this owner, after five years of disturbing actions, is even in a position today and bold enough today to even ask for more, I find infuriating," said Julianne Bertagna, president of the Treadwell Farm Historic District Association.

The owner has not been publicly identified, and city records show only that the townhouse was purchased jointly in 2015 by "Polo Property Acquisitions I, LLC" and "177 Realty Corp," both associated with a Midtown law office.

"Completely blocked in"

The Landmarks Preservation Commission will host a public hearing on the latest plans on April 26. Reached for comment, an LPC spokesperson rejected the community board's request to revoke the 2017 certificate, saying the commission "does not revoke permits for non-compliant work, but instead will issue violations and give owners the chance to legalize noncompliant work."

"The remedy to correct the violation is to either return the work to the approved condition or to seek approval for a different design," said spokesperson Zodet Negron, adding that the townhouse owner will be required to undo the bulky addition whether or not the commission approves the new application.

The commission has issued its own violations to the townhouse owners for facade disrepair and the extra-tall addition. Failure to abide by whatever the commission decides at the upcoming hearing will result in fines of up to $5,000 for each instance.

Keitaro Nei, an architect enlisted by the owner, struggled to rebut the accusations being lobbed at his client on Monday, but said his team had "listened to the community's concerns and went back to the drawing board" when designing the latest plans, which he called "much more modest."

Still, residents had harsh words for the new design — especially the rear addition, which one next-door neighbor said will leave his own backyard "completely blocked in."

"Even if the applicant were Mother Teresa," board member Elizabeth Ashby said, "we would decide that this is an inappropriate application."