A week ago, my artist friends Andreas Konrath and Lina Plioplyte and I were walking east on 23rd Street, approaching the Chelsea Hotel. Andreas, who’s a British-born photographer now living and working in NYC, knew all about the Chelsea’s reputation as a harbor for creative folk (and their deaths, i.e., the British Sid Vicious), but had never been inside.
I mentioned the current Chelsea residents’ lawsuit, told them about my own long-ago weird visit to a Chelsea resident, and suggested we go into the lobby, so he and Lina could get an sense of its oddball, uh, ambiance.
Not possible. There were locks and an imperious sign on the front door saying that no visitors were permitted. Peculiar. How were the residents to get into their apartments? And did this sign mean that nobody could visit them? They couldn’t get deliveries?
I know that my own real estate lawyers were representing the remaining long-time tenants at the Chelsea against the new owner, so figured the Himmelstein law firm would get on top of the problem. And indeed, in today’s Daily News:
The Hotel Chelsea’s new owners are being accused of stonewalling yet again. On Monday, lawyers for the hotel’s tenants association filed a petition in Manhattan Housing Court against Chelsea Dynasty, the entity that owns the hotel…claiming the new owner’s renovation of the hotel is causing “numerous imminent hazards and violations of housing standards.” The filing alleges water damage and mold contamination…
I’d think that locking the front door against visitors, et al., is also part of that petition.
The Housing Court petition resonates deeply with me, because I just filed one against the Skush-O’Briens. I’ll fill you in later about this exciting action with rapid results. Meanwhile, read this: How to Get Repairs By Suing Your Landlord #1 | New York City Landlord-Tenant Law Attorneys Blog.
And here is news about an unusual and successful class action lawsuit, in which a group (the “class”) of panhandlers won a lawsuit against New York City.