Report: 8 months after fire, residents want their landlord to repair their Avenue D building

Photo from September 2022

Eight months after a two-alarm fire at 11-13 Avenue D, some residents of the 6-floor residential building between Second Street and Third Street say their landlord is "dragging his feet" in making the necessary repairs.

PIX11 reports that three tenants are taking landlord Gregorio Nunez to housing court via Mobilization For Justice. Residents say no work has been done to the rent-stabilized units.

"The landlord originally told us six months, and that's obviously not the case," Ise White... told PIX11 News. "Our apartments are in great condition. It's mostly the windows that need to be fixed very easily. There was no structural damage."

"Apparently, he's dragging his feet," Nikita Salehi-Azhan, the Mobilization For Justice lawyer and tenant advocate, told PIX11 News. "Unfortunately, it takes a lawsuit to do anything about it. Because only four of the 16 units were occupied and three of the four are rent-stabilized. You can say he doesn't have an incentive to get the repairs going," Salehi-Azhan added.

When PIX11 contacted Nunez, he reportedly said, "no, no, no" and hung up the phone.

After the fire, the DOB issued a vacate order on the building.

Per the city: 

Due to extensive fire damage at 1st-floor restaurant along with fire, water and smoke damage throughout building... fire fighting operations to vent out entire building where all windows and doors have been removed along with removal of the skylight for venting. These hazardous conditions have therefore rendered the ENTIRE premises unsafe to occupy. 

Sources previously said the fire started in the New Chinatown Restaurant. 

There were no injuries in the fire.

PIX11 says the tenants will be back in housing court today.