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Tenants in Battery Park City Furious Over Lack of Heat

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At Battery Park City's Gateway Plaza, tenants continue to fight with the LeFrak Organization, following the landlords' unfulfilled promises of repairing faulty heating units and windows, which have forced residents to suffer through the recent cold weather.

Almost a year ago, LeFrak representatives informed residents that all of their PTAC units, insulation and windows would be repaired or replaced by December 2013. According to Downtown Express, "no new windows have been installed, no insulation repairs have taken place and only about 300 new PTAC units have been installed" out of around 3,500 units.
Residents are furious, with the possibility of a rent strike repeatedly coming up at a recent meeting of Community Board 1. Such a move remains unlikely, given the difficulty of organizing so many apartments. However, Tenants Association President Glenn Plaskin has said that he is in the process of discussing a possible lawsuit against LeFrak for violating the warranty of habitability in the city's Rent Guidelines Board, which requires landlords to ensure a "livable, safe and sanitary apartment" for tenants.

This isn't the first time Gateway tenants have done battle with LeFrak. A few years ago, they took the landlords to task (and won!) over proposed draconian anti-pet measures, which would have banned virtually every dog from the building and forced cat-owners to declaw their feline friends.
· "Gateway still hot over cold apartments, but rent strike talk loses steam" [DE]
· Gateway Plaza coverage [Curbed]