One of NYC’s ‘worst’ landlords sued over falling debris and scaffolding that’s been up for 14 years

The city says this landlord wouldn’t know it was time to repair his building even if pieces of it fell out of the sky — literally.

A Hell’s Kitchen building owner on the Big Apple’s “worst” landlord list was slapped this week with a lawsuit from the city alleging he neglected crumbling façades and allowed “dangerous conditions” — like falling debris and long-standing sidewalk sheds – to persist for over a decade.

Mark Tress, owner of the long-abandoned Windermere building, should address hundreds of code violations for unsafe façades and ignoring years of summonses to correct hazards at the historic site since he bought it in 2009, the city Department of Buildings said.

Sidewalk sheds — the temporary green walkway fixtures used during construction work — have been made as “forever” additions to the building, with pipes and plywood falling into disrepair in the process, the DOB said.

The Windermere is made up of properties at 400-406 West 57th St. and 869 9th Ave., according to the city.

Tress made the No. 32 spot on 2023’s Landlord Watchlist , which is compiled by Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams based on the average number of open Housing and Preservation Department violations a landlord’s building has racked up. The Windermere and 4683 Park Ave. had a whopping 759 open violations combined.

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Violations at the Windermere, a historic Queen Anne-style building that once housed Manhattan’s first “Carrie Bradshaws” in the late 1800s, range from fire hazards and defective fire escapes to broken flooring and hot water complaints. Though its last tenants moved out in 2008, hundreds of violations remain, the DOB said.

Philip Dalgarno, 30, a bankruptcy lawyer and neighborhood resident who lives down the street, told The Post the building’s scaffolding has been as eyesore and a blight on the neighborhood for more than a decade.

“It’s slowed down the development of this entire block — the commercial business on the other side of Ninth Avenue, closer to 56th [Street] were empty for well over a year after I moved in almost two years ago,” Delgarno said.

“There were people sleeping under the scaffolding — just generally something that was hindering the neighborhood being a little bit more livable. I think it’s a good thing if they’re cracking down on it.”

A 64-year-old financial analyst who identified himself as Russell, who has lived next door to The Windermere for 16 years, was also disheartened to see the building fall into disrepair.

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The longtime resident said the building’s aesthetic had improved in recent years, but described construction work there — with plans slated to convert the historic building into a mixed-use office and residential space with a rooftop restaurant — as irregular and sporadic.

“They’ll work on it for a little while, then you’ll see nothing,” Russell told The Post outside his building after returning from an evening jog Monday. “It will happen for a while, and then I won’t see anything for weeks or months.”

The City Council’s land use committee voted in 2021 to grant a special permit to allow for the conversion, T he Real Deal reported . The full council approved the plans later that year.

Tress also agreed to allocating 20 affordable rental units in the building as part of an agreement with the city after the previous landlord harassed rent-controlled residents, per the outlet.

Windermere Properties LLC pleaded guilty for failing to maintain a building in a criminal case in 2022 — but despite multiple subsequent orders from the city to make repairs, “the sidewalk shed has remained in place and the façade has remained un-fixed,” the DOB said.

The city wants the owner to correct all code violations and “public nuisances” at the properties and is asking for a permanent injunction against future code violations.

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The landlord could face civil penalties of $1,000 per day per building for violations, and thousands more in penalties for failing to file inspection reports and keeping sidewalk sheds up in place of actually making repairs, the agency added.

The lawsuit is the latest filed against negligent landlords during the mayor’s Get Sheds Down program, an overhaul of sidewalk shed rules introduced in 2023. That plan vies to remove the “ ugly green boxes ” quickly, redesign in-use sheds and reprimand property owners that utilize them as sidewalk band-aids.

However, city records still show nearly 9,000 active sidewalk sheds in the five boroughs (with an average of 490 days) — figures that haven’t budged much since the program began.

Mayor Eric Adams slammed landlords’ use of inappropriate use of sidewalk sheds during the program unveiling in 2023, deeming the sheds as prime offenders for blocking sunlight, deterring customers from businesses and functioning as a “magnet” for illegal activity.

“The Windermere should be considered an architectural treasure for our city, but unfortunately the owners have allowed the property to fall into deep disrepair and have kept the building shrouded behind a sidewalk shed and fence for years,” NYC Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said of the decrepit building.

“Property owners need to understand that we are no longer tolerating when they put off critical building repairs and allow long-standing sidewalk sheds to detract from the livability of our city.”

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