BY WINNIE McCROY | Tenants of a Chelsea apartment building say they are frustrated by the slow rollout of repairs of the intercom system and have continued ventilation concerns, as well as the (inconsistent at best) mail and package delivery on weekends. In April 2022, Chelsea Community News.(CCN) reported on a contentious situation at 225 W. 23rd St./ 220 W. 24th St. (two buildings connected by a courtyard) after Akelius Real Estate Management installed non-opening hallway windows, preventing adequate ventilation amidst the COVID pandemic.

“They are run by a non-profit from Sweden and really, they could care less,” said Thùy Phạm, president of the 2324 Chelsea Tenants Association. “There have been problems with the ventilation system since they sealed the hallway windows. I held a ventilation forum, and the morning of our press conference [of April 2022], they said they would fix it.”

In June 2021, tenants took their landlord to civil court over inadequate ventilation.

Shapiro called in an engineer to testify to the ventilation problems. She believes this expert testimony led the court to stipulate that Akelius “keep ventilation systems operational, in accordance with law.” Those tenants won the case, including eight months of rent abatement. But Shapiro said problems persist.

“The current issue is that the vent by the mechanical system has airflow, but when the tubing goes through the fire doors and above the elevator, there’s little to no airflow,” said Shapiro, who served as the building’s representative for Housing Conservation Coordinators (HCC) in that case.

“There was a legal stipulation we get quarterly inspections, but instead we went through months of back and forth to tell them their inspector was not measuring airflow. We eventually got a ‘secondary’ report that said technically, it was legal.”

Regarding the current situation, said Shapiro, “Airflow balance is the issue here. The fire door is supposed to stay closed, so there’s no airflow—and half the building is not getting any ventilation…By law, they only had to put ventilation on the first and fourth floors—but other floors are still hot and stuffy. They pulled a fast one because technically, it’s legal, but I don’t know why they didn’t just put in windows that opened. They could have saved themselves the lawyer costs, installation fees, and the pain of their tenants. Or they could have put in a system with MERV 13 that deals with particles from COVID and those Canadian forest fires, but instead they only installed MERV 8, per a 2001 law. It’s very narrow thinking.”

Shapiro said she consulted with a ventilation guru who told her ventilation MERV 6-8 would circulate the virus, rather than remove it from the air, noting, “If someone was sick, the virus would just hang out by their apartment.”

Phạm said, of results from the court case, they “had the stipulation in place, but there’s been no follow-through.” Liaisons from the offices of New York State Assemblymember Tony Simone, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher have tried to help get answers, to put the feet to the fire with Akelius. But all is not copacetic here.

Last week, Hoylman-Sigal and Simone told CCN that, “Any instance in which a landlord is mistreating their tenants, particularly when in the presence of legal judgements, is unacceptable. As elected officials in Chelsea, we both stand firm with tenants, who deserve dignity and respect, and will continue to work with the residents of 225 W. 23rd Street/ 220 W. 24th Street as well as those throughout our districts to ensure that all tenants are protected from irresponsible landlords.”

But Phạm said tenants are at wits’ end, noting, “Whether we use honey or vinegar, it’s like hitting a stone wall.”

Intercom and Door-Assist Woes | Tenants allege that fixes promised in April are only now being slowly rolled out. They are weary of what they say are unintelligible intercom exchanges, unclear door button signage, and uneven mail and package delivery on weekends.

On February 6, 2019, Akelius sent around a memo indicating the intercom would be repaired. Three years later, problems persisted. Earlier this year, tenants again attempted to get an update from Akelius on these promised improvements via a February 29 Town Hall with elected officials. Akelius said they would have Paragon Security fix the intercom in April. In an August 26 email, Akelius said they would share announcements from both sides, telling Phạm, “As a courtesy, we can include you on future notices as needed.”

Kimiya Khosravani, head of New York operations for Akelius Real Estate Management, told CCN that while they did tell tenants in February that intercom systems would be upgraded this year, the estimated start date of April was never confirmed, as they “did not have all the facts of the building conditions or project specifics.”

Because the project requires installation of 244 intercom systems, Akelius says they followed a diligent feasibility assessment and opened bidding to three contractors, noting that the one they chose required 100 percent of supplies be delivered to site before beginning. Akelius said residents were notified of the project start date via a July 25 communication. Tenants were informed that the intercom installation would have a staggered start from August 7-14.

Phạm said it has been “slow, disorganized, and delayed to tenants’ expense of time and expectation,” further noting, “They have finally begun intercom installation, but it’s erratic. Some apartments have taken 20 minutes, and others an hour. They’re doing both buildings floor by floor, and tenants are irritated because the company underestimated the installation time. They also said it would start August 14, then when it didn’t, said they were trying to coordinate.”

Khosravani countered that since the August 8 start date, “Contractors are ahead of schedule, with 65 percent of apartments completed already,” adding that with “continuous cooperation with our residents to gain timely access, Akelius is committed to completing this project with the least amount of disruption to our residents.”

“The intercom installation,” noted Shapiro, “is three years behind. They said they would start it this April, and now it’s August and somehow they still can’t coordinate it. My time slot was a Thursday morning, and I moved all my furniture, and the Super finally came by with the guys at 1:30pm. Mine’s installed, but I’m not sure if it works.” (Shapiro has since learned that none of the intercoms will work until they are installed in every apartment.)

Tenants also had issues with the “push to open” silver door square, which they said was unclearly marked. Akelius responded in a July 26 email, saying that they had refreshed that faded lettering. In the past, the heavy door presented problems for elderly and the disabled. Now, noted Phạm, when you use the intercom, you would have to use the doorbell to get a doorman to open the door for you or open the door yourself, which is difficult because the doors are heavy with high resistance.” At the February Town Hall, tenants requested doorbells be installed in the dual entrances for instances when pushing the silver door square does not work.

Ventilation Concerns | During the pandemic, Akelius replaced opening hallway windows with sealed glass, said long-term tenant Laura Shapiro. She explained that the New York City Department of Buildings got involved and ordered them to either have windows that open or install a ventilation system. For a long time, nothing happened. Akelius promised to install a mechanical system but there were months of delay. A year later, they installed mechanical machinery.

To date, tenants say the ventilation issues have not been adequately addressed, while Akelius contends problems have been resolved. Phạm told CCN that Akelius has a stipulation to meet compliance that they have not met.

“They installed a ventilation system that’s supposed to have ducts all over, but no one feels any air,” said Phạm. “We did the paper tissue on the yardstick test, and there doesn’t seem to be airflow balance with this basic laymen’s test.”

Phạm said tenants were frustrated with these remedial measures Akelius took, adding that they had not provided quarterly airflow balance reports for all of 2024.

Khosravani sees things differently, noting correctly that the court stipulation indicates, “Respondents shall inspect that the ventilation systems are operational quarterly…and maintain a record of said inspections of the ventilation systems.” When tenants asked to see quarterly inspection reports, they said Akelius told them they did not know tenants wanted a copy.

Akelius contends that, in an act of good faith, they “went above and beyond what is stipulated in the court documents and offered to share the quarterly reports to the tenant association during quarterly meetings” to put tenants’ minds at ease. They also maintain that, “All the reports to date have clearly indicated that the ventilation system is operating effectively as designed.”

But notes from the February Town Hall indicate that while the inspector from B&L Testing and Balancing measured the allowance of airflow as being “up to code,” that the secondary report indicated what tenants had complained about all along—namely that there was strong airflow from the vent nearest the mechanical equipment, and hardly any airflow from the vent over the elevator or the vent further away from the fire door.

“This means that half of each wing in each building is not receiving the balanced airflow that was adjusted, measured, and documented in a report from a different company in September 2022,” Shapiro said. Tenant notes from that meeting question, “Why didn’t the inspector adjust the airflow balance?”

Akelius has recently hired Flexair HVAC Systems, a new ventilation company, to address the matter. Shapiro has reached out to this company with the past two years’ airflow balance reports for an updated assessment.

“If you have questions about the system, I encourage you to contact our vendor directly, who stated that it is functioning,” wrote Akelius to Shapiro. She phoned Flexair and told CCN that the inspector said he was able to feel air from the vents on the side of the fire door but expected it to be much less than from the vent nearest the machinery. As of this article’s publication Shapiro had yet to hear back from that inspector regarding tenants’ belief that the two sides have unequal airflow.

Mail and Package Delivery Issues | According to Phạm, issues continue with mail and package delivery. She said the package monitor system only works for one of the buildings, and that if mail comes after 4pm on Saturday, tenants might not receive it until Monday, “Because they [Akelius] claim ‘staffing issues,’ as there’s no porter to deliver it.”

This is the third time, noted Pham, “we’ve had issues with mail delivery. Some time-sensitive pieces of mail have not been delivered to tenants on time. No one on staff delivers mail over the weekend, so sometimes we don’t get it for two or three days later. The doorman says we can come and get it—but how can we if we’re not notified it has arrived?”

Khosravani contends that this Chelsea property has a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week concierge service, in which personnel scans packages upon arrival, and an automatic email notification is sent to residents, per standard practices. (Town Hall notes indicate there were problems at some point with doormen not inputting package deliveries into the system.) She noted that mail is hand-delivered to residents Monday through Saturday, 6am-4pm, but that residents can also pick up packages and mail from the concierge services at any time.

“This service has been available to our residents for as long as Akelius has taken ownership of this property since 2017,” said Khosravani. “We continue in our commitment in ensuring residents have access to their mail, whether it is hand-delivered or picked up from concierge.”

Phạm also has grievances that she is not getting letters due her as president of the Tenants Association—notifications about planned installation of solar panels, roof replacements, and seventh-floor inspections. When she brought it to Akelius’ attention, she says they clapped back “with a defensive memo that they weren’t going to address things that weren’t ‘life and safety concerns.’ ”

For their part, Akelius believes they are compliant, and emphasized they were “committed in ensuring our residents are living in a safe environment. We strive to provide a better living experience…and encourage residents to contact the property manager directly or use our 24-hour service call center to address any questions or concerns they may have.”

They have employed a new senior property manager, Esther Akinsanya, who reached out to Phạm on August 26 via email to introduce herself, saying she was willing to meet with Pham prior to the Town Hall they were attempting to schedule.

“It’s been six months since that February Town Hall, and we want to see what Akelius has to say,” said Phạm. “We asked for another Town Hall this month, and they said because it’s not ‘life or safety concerns,’ they won’t do another until October. This diminishes the power of the court stipulation, as three quarters will have passed by then. We say they are moving a little too slow for ‘life and safety concerns.’ We just want to have clear communication and are willing to cooperate in any way. We hope the same from Akelius but are hearing from tenants that that’s just not the case.”

Also of Interest: Click Here to read our March 7, 2021 article, Chelsea Tenants, Experts Convene to ‘Air’ Ventilation Concerns in Time of COVID-19

Also of Interest: Click Here to read our April 23, 2022 article, Landlord Promises Long-Overdue Repairs, Just Prior to Tenant-Led Protest

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