NextSharkNextShark.com
Latest Newsletter🍵 Biden awards Asian artistsRead

Article

Displaced residents of fire-damaged NYC Chinatown apartment building frustrated by delayed repairs

  • A fire that started in a building owned by Eighty Mulberry Realty Corp. on Mulberry Street in New York City’s Chinatown back in April left two people dead and 37 tenants displaced. 

  • The displaced residents are now expressing their frustration with the building’s delayed repairs.

  • “We’ve all been displaced since then, with just a total question mark of when we’re going to return to the building and when repairs will be made,” said resident Anela Chan. 

  • Lance Steinberg, an Eighty Mulberry Realty managing agent, said they have recently secured working permits from the city’s Department of Buildings and will soon start work.

  • According to Steinberg, units on lower floors are expected to be completed within 60 days, while the rest of the building, consisting of the upper floors that were damaged the most by the fire, may be ready by February 2023.

  • Councilmember Christopher Marte, who represents lower Manhattan, disagrees with the timeline and urged the buildings department and the landlord “to expedite the process and make sure that this building is safe for tenants to return back to their home.”

Asian America Daily - in under 5 minutes

Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories, to your inbox daily, for free!

Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive

Residents of a New York City Chinatown apartment building that was destroyed by a fire in April are frustrated with the building’s delayed repairs.

The fire that started in the building owned by Eighty Mulberry Realty Corp. on Mulberry Street left two people dead and 37 tenants displaced.

While the tenants were able to retrieve their belongings, they are unable to resume living in their apartments until the units are repaired and deemed habitable again. 

“We’ve all been displaced since then, with just a total question mark of when we’re going to return to the building and when repairs will be made,” said resident Anela Chan. 

Eighty Mulberry Realty Managing Agent Lance Steinberg said that they want tenants to move back in as soon as possible, noting that they have recently secured working permits from the city’s Department of Buildings. The company, however, has yet to issue the work permits to contractors to do the repairs. 

According to Steinberg, units on lower floors are expected to be completed within 60 days while the rest of the building, consisting of the upper floors that were damaged the most by the fire, may be done by February 2023.

Councilmember Christopher Marte, who represents lower Manhattan, disagrees with the timeline, which coincides with what a housing court judge has enforced.

Marte demanded that the buildings department and the landlord “expedite the process and make sure that this building is safe for tenants to return back to their home.”

Chan, who lives on the fifth floor – which is where the fire originated – said she spent hundreds of hours looking for a temporary place to stay. She found a sublet via Airbnb and had to spend about $5,000 for rent, utilities and new supplies.

“Our insurance company actually declared that four months was too long, it was an unreasonable amount of time to repair a building, so we’re currently having to pay all of the additional expenses ourselves,” Chan said.

The city has committed to expediting any needed reviews or inspections while monitoring the progress on restoring the building.

Nonprofit Think Chinatown has organized a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe to benefit the tenants, which so far has raised over $61,000.

Featured Image via Fox 5 New York

Support our Journalism with a Contribution

Many people might not know this, but despite our large and loyal following which we are immensely grateful for, NextShark is still a small bootstrapped startup that runs on no outside funding or loans.

Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities to help give Asians all over the world a bigger voice.

However, we still face many trials and tribulations in our industry, from figuring out the most sustainable business model for independent media companies to facing the current COVID-19 pandemic decimating advertising revenues across the board.

We hope you consider making a contribution so we can continue to provide you with quality content that informs, educates and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way.  Thank you for everyone's support. We love you all and can't appreciate you guys enough.

Support NextShark

Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Discover, Paypal