New York Suit Alleges Developers Violated Civil Rights of People With Disabilities

Charles V. Bagli, New york Time reports                                                                                March 17, 2014

NY: TriBeCa Green

Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor filed a civil rights lawsuit Monday against Related Companies, one of New York City’s most prolific builders, charging that the developer had violated the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against disabled tenants in the design of two apartment buildings.

Prosecutors are widely expected to file similar lawsuits against other developers, including the Durst Organization and Glenwood Management, in what has become a long-running dispute over whether buildings erected under New York City’s accessibility law meets federal requirements.

The lawsuit claims that Related’s TriBeCa Green building, at 325 North End Avenue, completed in 2005, and One Carnegie Hill, on East 96th Street, finished in 2006, are inaccessible to disabled tenants because kitchens, closets and bathrooms are not big enough for someone in a wheelchair to maneuver within, mailboxes are mounted too high, and room identification signs lack raised-letter Braille for persons with visual impairments.

“We will not allow developers and architects who deprive people with disabilities of accessible housing to evade the consequences of their failure to comply with clear, longstanding federal civil rights laws,” Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement Monday.

Robert A. M. Stern Architects, the firm that designed TriBeCa Green, and Ismael Leyva Architects, which designed One Carnegie Hill, were also named as defendants.

Architect Robert Stern

Related Companies said that it was “disappointed” that it had been unable to reach an agreement with the United States attorney’s office before the suit was filed. “Unfortunately, for the time being, we have reached an impasse with the government which we believe is asking for

things not required by law.”

New York developers insist that they have complied for the past 25 years with a city law requiring them to ensure that all apartments they build are accessible to disabled people. The local law, developers and city officials say, essentially meets the requirements of the federal Fair Housing Act. But the federal law was toughened three years after the city law passed, and developers, city officials and federal authorities have not agreed on whether the city requirements meet the standards of the current federal act.

“We've got a disagreement,” said Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. “We never resolved, what is the difference between the local law and the Fair Housing Act?”

In Monday’s lawsuit, prosecutors asserted that the Related buildings fell short of the city’s requirements as well.

In 2008, prosecutors formally notified 11 major developers, including Related, Rose Associates and Silverstein Properties, that at least some of their buildings were “not accessible to persons with disabilities,” a violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Architect Ismael Leyva

Negotiations ensued, but prosecutors also filed a lawsuit against AvalonBay Communities, a publicly traded real estate company, and its architects charging them with discrimination against disabled people at Avalon Chrystie Place, a building on the Lower East Side, by failing to provide sufficient access. That suit resulted in a settlement in 2010.

Two years ago, federal prosecutors settled a similar civil rights lawsuit against the developer, architect and current owner of Hudson Crossing, a 259-unit building at Ninth Avenue and 37th Street. As part of that agreement, the current owners retrofitted three apartments to include features that went above and beyond the basic accessibility under the Fair Housing Act.