Jacob Avid purchased a four-story brownstone on the Upper West Side in 2008 for $2.2 million and wanted to add two stories and build a rear extension. The extensive gut job required city permits that could be issued only for an empty building.
So Avid claimed the property at 315 W. 103rd St. was vacant, and, in 2009, the city gave him the green light.
But the building’s eight apartments were occupied, with some renters having called the place home for 30 years.
When the city wised up, it halted the renovation. But the edifice remains half-finished. A giant black tarp covers the entire back of the building like a bandage on an open wound.
The scaffolding on the front of the building has become a permanent monument to the stalled project.
Tenants say Avid has twice restarted construction even after the city issued stop-work orders.
“If a man’s house is a castle, I’m living in a dungeon,” said three-decade resident Mark Danna, 62. “When the landlord removed an exterior wall, we were exposed to the freezing cold.”
“It rained in my apartment,” he added. “At one point, I bailed out eight gallons of water from my home. I feel like I no longer have shelter.”
A city Buildings Department spokeswoman said the current stop-work order could be lifted if a safer exit were created for the tenants who live there.
Avid, who did not return calls, has threatened to start legal proceedings to force Danna out, Danna said.
Borough President Scott Stringer demanded city action.
“These tenants have been battling an owner who brazenly lied to the city and badly mistreated them, pretending at one point they didn’t even exist,” Stringer said. “Now the city must do its job.”