For Immediate Release: October 31, 2024
CONTACT: dobcommunications@buildings.nyc.gov, (212) 393-2126

DOB ISSUES MONTHLY ENFORCEMENT BULLETIN

Report Highlights DOB Enforcement Outcomes from August 2024 to Deter Bad Actors and Keep New Yorkers Safe

New York, NY – The New York City Department of Buildings released its enforcement bulletin for August 2024, which provides highlights of the agency’s actions to sanction and deter bad actors in the construction industry through the enforcement of safety laws and codes of conduct. Today’s bulletin includes summaries of DOB-imposed disciplinary actions, including the issuance of violations with associated penalties and the surrender of privileges by design professionals.

The actions below represent a portion of DOB’s overall work to enforce the laws and rules governing construction work, in addition to the thousands of inspections conducted and violations issued by the agency each month for illegal building and construction conditions.

Several major enforcement actions were concluded in August, including the imposition of:

• 8 violations and $95,000 in penalties for failure to safeguard construction sites at 8 locations.
• 11 violations and $595,000 in penalties, including daily penalties, for illegal building alterations at 3 locations.
• 3 violations and $45,000 in penalties to 3 individuals for failure to carry out the duties of a construction superintendent.

Below are individual enforcement highlights for August 2024:

Construction and Design Professionals

• DOB’s Special Enforcement Team (SET) audited 8 professionally certified applications submitted by Registered Architect Michael Vorland and found major code non-compliances, including filing Alteration Type 2 applications despite proposing changes in use, egress, and/or occupancy, which require Alteration Type 1 applications for a new or amended Certificate of Occupancy; proposing plans that are contrary to I-cards; proposing plans that do not indicate work subject to special inspections; proposing plans that do not provide two exits from the cellar; proposing plans that do not enclose interior exit stairways; and various other violations of applicable regulations, including the Zoning Resolution, Building Code, and Administrative Code. Based on the audits, SET offered a voluntary surrender of Professional Certification and Directive 14 privileges which the Respondent agreed to.
• DOB’s Special Enforcement Team (SET) audited five professionally certified applications submitted by Professional Engineer Nanik Massand that presented major violations of applicable regulations. SET offered a voluntary surrender of Professional Certification and Directive 14 privileges for multiple failed audits, which the Professional Engineer agreed to. Following this, SET discovered that while his privileges were surrendered, the Professional Engineer submitted TR-1 (Technical Report Statement of Responsibility) forms to certify performance and sign-off of 71 Directive 14 final inspections and filed 12 new professionally certified job applications. SET filed a petition at OATH for false statements and prior to their trial, the Professional Engineer signed a Stipulation of Settlement for a two-year surrender of all filing privileges and a permanent surrender of Professional Certification and Directing 14 final inspection privileges.
• A warning letter was issued to Welder Alfredo Guzman Rojas for using unprofessional language in a phone call with a Department of Buildings employee.
• A warning letter was issued to General Contractor Asllan Kaci following a brick façade collapse and for letting another individual use his DOB Now credentials.
• A warning letter was issued to Filing Representative Yisroel Greenfeld for listing himself as the owner of properties on various PW1 forms when he was acting as an agent for the property owner.
• A warning letter was issued to Filing Representative Moshe Sasson for submitting Certificates of Correction with discrepancies on them.

Bronx

• $71,000 in total penalties issued to Point H. Realty Corp for violations recorded at 1250 Oak Point Avenue. DOB inspectors issued violations at the excavation site for failure to install shoring and guardrails, failure to protect adjoining properties, failure to provide adequate means of egress for workers, and for work contrary to plans.

Brooklyn

• $25,000 in total penalties issued to North Star Contracting Group for violations recorded at 275 Atlantic Ave. DOB inspectors issued violations for failure to cover a floor opening in a work site after a worker on the 11^th floor fell through a hole. Additionally, inspectors issued violations for failure to follow the approved Site Safety Plan, after observing missing supported scaffold at roof level, missing guardrails throughout site, and lack of required pre-shift meeting.
• $18,250 in total penalties issued to M&F Management LLC for violations recorded at 91 De Sales Place. DOB inspectors issued violations for the continuation of façade work contrary to a Stop Work Order, and for lack of guardrails on roof, a gate swinging outward to public, and inadequate housekeeping.
• $13,125 in total penalties issued to Yee Chi Tung for violations recorded at 118 Avenue T. DOB inspectors issued violations for occupancy contrary to records after finding the ground floor converted into an illegal massage parlor, and for the second means of egress blocked at the ground floor.
• $10,000 in penalties issued to Wall Contractor Corp for violations recorded at 3509 Farragut Road. DOB inspectors issued violations for failure to notify DOB of an incident following a worker who was injured and taken to a hospital.
• $10,000 in total penalties issued to Keds Kidz 659 LLC for violations recorded at 659 Grand Street. DOB inspectors issued violations for failure to construct a sidewalk shed at the new building site.
• $10,000 in penalties issued to 1809 Emmons Avenue Development LLC for violations recorded at 1809 Emmons Ave. DOB inspectors issued violations to the Privately Owned Public Space (POPS) after finding that 80% of plaza was taken over by two restaurants and planters, blocking the public from the area.

Manhattan

• $243,750 in total penalties issued to 123 Street Investor LLC for violations recorded at 524 West 123^rd Street. DOB inspectors issued violations for illegal alterations after finding 4 Single Residence Occupancies (SROs) that were converted illegally.
• $25,000 in total penalties issued to Amsterdam Harlem Construction for violations recorded at 114 Edgecombe Ave. DOB inspectors issued violations for a gas generator that was placed inside the building during construction operations that cause caused a fire.
• $25,000 in total penalties issued to Central Hudson Associates LLC for violations recorded at 570 West End Ave. DOB inspectors issued violations for failure to construct sidewalk sheds where there was a documented unsafe façade filing.
• $15,000 in total penalties issued to the Plaza Condominium Unit 615 for violations recorded at 14 East 82^nd Street. DOB inspectors issued violations for workers cutting a metal grate in violation of a posted Stop Work Order, and for being denied access to a permitted job site.
• $10,000 in total penalties issued to 501 ½ East Associates LLC for violations recorded at 501 ½ East 83^rd Street. DOB inspectors issued violations for failure to file a tenant protection plan, and for an excessive accumulation of dust on handrails, stairs, and floor.
• $10,000 in total penalties issued to Chelsea New York Realty Company for violations recorded at 776 6^th Ave. DOB inspectors issued violations to the Privately Owned Public Space (POPS) for both entrances being padlocked, despite documents stating that the location should have been open.

Queens

• Following an OATH Trial that determined 78-01 149^th Avenue in Queens was being used for dead storage of motor vehicles and junk salvage storage, DOB executed and posted a closure order on the property, which will be followed by a padlocking of the property.

• The Department of Buildings executed a stipulation agreement with the owners of 76-12 Blake Avenue to remove the illegal commercial vehicle and building materials storage in their yard by the compliance date of December 31, 2024

• $46,500 total penalties issued to Mobarok Karim for violations recorded at 155-37 100th Street. DOB inspectors issued violations for illegal alterations after finding the legal 1-family dwelling converted into a 10-family dwelling by illegally adding 9 Single Residence Occupancies (SROs).

Staten Island

• $52,500 in total penalties imposed on Fingerboard Road, LLC, for violations recorded at 314 Fingerboard Road. DOB inspectors issued violations for acting as an outdoor advertising company without registration, for prohibited advertising signs in a residential district, and for work without a permit.