Posted by There are more than 200 apartment buildings in the city that have been illegally converted to hotels, according to a report released Sunday, significantly reducing the number of rent-stabilized units available.
“It’s hard enough to find housing in this city as it is,” said John Raskin, director of organizing at Housing Conservation Coordinators, an affordable housing group that released the report. “The last thing we need is to lose more apartments to the illegal hotel industry.”
Illegal hotel operators frequently take advantage of tax loopholes designed to encourage the construction of residential units, according to Raskin.
Legal tenants then face harassment and in some cases illegal eviction notices in order to chase them out of their homes, the report found.
According to an article published May 1st some of the residences that are allegedly operating as illegal hotels:
The Continental – 330 West 95th street
The Pennington – 316 West 95th street
Mount Royal – 315 West 94th Street
Columbus Studios – 106 – 108 West 83rd street
Imperial Court – 307 West 97th street
Riverside Hotels – 342 – 350 West 71st street
Dexter House – 345 West 86th street
Royal York – 258 West 97th street
Marrakech – 2668 Boadway
The housing group, Housing Conservation Coordinators which published the report can be found here
Source: AMNY
where can i get a list of these 200 apt buildings. i’d like to find out if my building is included
I know for a fact that the Hotel riverside studios is illegally operating as a tourist hotel. I have stayed in room 5N4
I just checked and the Hotel Riverside Studios, 342 West 71st street, ny, ny 10023, is advertised on the website http://www.nyc.gov in the visitor’s guide section. The city’s own website is advertising ILLEGAL hotels.
Now that I stayed there, I’m pretty sure that “The Continental” (which also goes under the name “Widget Hostel”) in 330 W 95th street is illegal. By the way its health conditions are extremely poor, and the staff is REALLY unkind… I’d better say rough, not to use worse words…