Manager told to fix housing

By Steven Gnagni
Managing Editor

The residents of Highbridge House, a 400-unit, 26-story Mitchell-Lama building located at 1131-1133 Ogden Avenue, have plenty to complain about. Many apartments need major repairs-ceilings are damaged, and there are plumbing and electrical issues. The intercom needs to be replaced. The security in the building is nearly nonexistent. Concrete balconies are falling apart. The roof needs major repairs.

All in all, the city's department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) lists 26 violations in the past 12 months, 14 of them hazardous.

Four months from now, tenants might finally see some movement on these complaints. That is because the federal department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has given the managers of the building, Aries Management, until the end of the year to complete all of these improvements, under what's called a Management Improvement Operation, or MIO, plan.

"We go out regularly, and look at what's being done," said Adam Glantz, a spokesperson for HUD. "A lot of work still needs to be done. They [Aries Management] have moved fairly slowly. We will talk to them, and maybe have a meeting with them."

If management does not comply with the MIO plan, HUD generally turns the case over to the HUD enforcement division, according to Glantz.

If this happens, the enforcement division then does its own inspection and holds its own meeting with the management company, according to Glantz. In addition, there are three possible penalties: a civil dollar fine, debarment from working with HUD, or foreclosure. In addition to HUD's concerns about the physical state of the building, the city's Housing Preservation and Development department, HPD, has its own concerns about the building.

One issue: property taxes. According to Virginia Gleidman, who works in HPD's communications office, nobody knows just how much money is owed-and whether it's owed to the city or the management company.

Highbridge House was built on top of an underground parking lot, and the parking lot sold its air rights to the building.

The building is receiving a tax credit, but no one is sure it is the right credit.

"We need to know how much is being credited, and is it really for Highbridge House," Gleidman says. "There's a team at finance trying to resolve the issues. A lot of this is being done manually. We need to be very careful, because we're playing with big numbers."

The second issue: illegal renting of apartments. The management company recently discovered that one of its employees was renting apartments inappropriately, Gleidman says.

"The employee was fired, and the management company called HPD immediately," she says. "We'll take whatever corrective action is necessary to make sure the apartments are fairly rented. We're not going to make wholesale evictions."

Gleidman says the inspector general will likely investigate those who moved in under the illegal arrangement, and will issue a report and recommendations.

For now, residents have formed a tenants' association. The group is upset about a rent increase granted to Aries Management because so far, tenants have not seen changes in the building.

"Nothing has happened," said Evelyn Curry, president of the tenants' association. "It's time to act. It's time to take this building back."

As of press time, Aries Management had not returned a call from the Horizon.