Three illegal hotels from hell are shutting their doors.
The city obtained a temporary injunction Thursday to shut down the unsafe, violation-riddled hotels operating in residential buildings on 94th and 95th streets on the Upper West Side, known as The Candy Hostel, The Continental and The Pennington.
“This is precedent setting,” said Shari Hyman, the director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement, which spearheaded the investigation. “This is a major step forward.”
The three hotels – which rent rooms to European tourists for between $50 and $150 a night – were illegally operating out of three connected single-room-occupancy buildings, robbing the city of dozens of affordable units and making life miserable for legit, long-term tenants. “We’d have these European tourists running around the halls at 3 a.m.,” said one tenant at The Candy Hostel. “They’re in New York to party. I’m in New York to live.
“I don’t know who my neighbors are. It’s not safe.”