An East Village man is hanging onto his rent-stabilized apartment for dear life.
Rory Denis has endured deafening construction and dusty conditions for nearly a year and a half, all because he can’t bear to part with his beloved — and cheap — home at 338 E. 6th St., where he’s lived for 44 years.
“I was born here, I’ll die here. My yellow toenails are going to be embedded in the staircase as they drag me out,” Denis jokingly told The Post on Sunday. “All kidding aside, I’m miserable.”
The five-story apartment building has been undergoing serious renovations since May 2013 and has been gutted from top to bottom — except for Denis’ fourth-floor apartment, which still has its floors and walls intact.
“The stairway is like playing mousetrap,” said Denis, 65. “It’s a nightmare. I feel like a bathtub on a broomstick.”
General contractor Esteban Vazquez griped that the lone holdout has created a headache for his workers, who have to “skip 4” when they’re installing electrical wiring and plumbing throughout the building.
“He’s been here for eons . . . the guy pays like $350 a month rent,” Vazquez said. “I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t move either, but you’re going to live in that condition? The house is totally ransacked.”
Vazquez added, “He’s just trying to stop the inevitable.”
Denis refused to disclose how much he pays in rent.
His landlord, Nurjahan Ahmed, is barred from evicting him because of stringent housing laws that protect rent-stabilized tenants. Denis said Ahmed has offered him $25,000 to leave, but he refuses to budge.
“[Denis] said no,” said Vazquez, who thinks the offer was closer to $65,000. “He thinks he’s entitled to more money. He says it’s not about the money, it’s about the memories.”
Denis took Ahmed to Housing Court last year after she cut off his electricity and water.
“They strong-armed me,” he said. “I was living without water and heat. But I had HBO.”
When times got tough, Denis said, Awash, the Ethiopian restaurant on the ground floor, gave him water to bathe.
“The restaurant downstairs is what kept me going,” he said. “I used buckets. It was like the 1800s.”
Denis won the Housing Court battle and the utilities were turned back on.
“I’m not against the renovation. All I want to do is simply live here,” he said.
Additional reporting by Ben Feuerherd