Long-suffering tenants of a Highbridge apartment building may soon have a new landlord.

In the past several months, Hamid Khan— the current owner of the six-story, 94-unit structure at 1055 University Avenue— has come under fire from the city for repeated failure to correct damages that include collapsed ceilings and floors, pervasive mold, water leaks, non-functioning toilets, and peeling paint.  

The city’s department of Housing, Preservation, and Development (HPD) is suing Khan and his property management group, Highbridge Apartments LLC, for what it says is his violation of an October 2006 court order to correct thousands of building code violations.

The city is seeking fines, civil jail time, and a contempt of court ruling against Khan . In the roughly 5 months following last year’s court order ,the number of violations at the property actually increased from 1,545 to 2,129.

On August 2, Khan’s attorney, Howard Fritz, proposed a settlement that is currently under consideration by the city. Under the terms of the agreement, Khan would sell the building within 90 days, with “any potential buyer and principles to be identified by DHPD for their review.”  Khan would also perform 45 hours of community service, pay $115,000 in fines, and help certain families at 1055 University Avenue find temporary or permanent housing elsewhere. (Court files do not specifically identify the families in question.)

And, according to a Bronx County Housing court source with direct knowledge of the case, that may not be the full extent of the settlement.  The source said that, in negotiations between lawyers for Khan and the city, the possibility has been raised that Khan would not only sell 1055 University Ave. but all of his roughly 15 Bronx properties. Neither Khan nor Fritz returned requests for comment, and  HPD declined to comment on the settlement. The parties are next due in court on August 30.

The settlement comes after Fritz tried unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed in June, charging that the city had failed to show Khan’s actions “were calculated to, or actually did defeat, impair, or prejudice the rights of the petitioner.”   Fritz also accused the city of “attempting to hold the respondents hostage,” by threatening jail time, and argued that HPD could not ask Khan to be held in contempt of the October 2006 court order while also modifying that order to include new violations accumulated between October and May.

In an apparent effort to establish that Khan has been taking serious steps to correct violations, and that he is facing a financial crisis in the process, Fritz entered into evidence exhibits that chronicle the expenditures of Highbridge Apartments LLC.
One document lists Highbridge Apartments LLC as having spent more than $72,000 on apartment renovations and improvements in 2006, and more than $32,000 on repairs. 

According to that same document, Highbridge Apartments LLC finished 2006 with a total balance of $-8401.68 in checking/savings. 
Also included in court files are photocopies of checks deposited by Highbridge Apartments LLC from College Realty LLC and an individual named Benjamin Hader, from whom Khan is listed as having taken out loans of $75,000 and $175,000 respectively. Khan has said his ability to make repairs at 1055 University Ave. has been severely  limited, because of constantly spending time and money fixing damages caused by squatters in the building. 

Fritz also submitted hardware store receipts dating back several months that document purchases of supplies such as paint and sheetrock, as well as signed forms by tenants indicating their landlord had completed repairs to their apartments.  One of the forms included in court files was signed by John Brown, whose home the Horizon visited in April to find cracked floors and walls, peeling paint, non-functioning light fixtures, and a lack of hot and cold water.

A recent return visit to Brown’s apartment suggested that some—but not all—of the damages to his home had been fixed. The mold in his bedroom was gone, his cracked toilet seat was replaced, and he now had hot and cold water. However, contrary to the form he signed, broken or uncovered light fixtures remained, and his front door lock was still loose.  In addition, he said, his stove was leaking gas.
“I signed the damn form,” Brown said. “I was sorry afterwords. I said ‘I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.’”

At other apartments first visited by the Horizon in April, little had changed. At a third-floor apartment, walls were covered with mold, and tiles were cracked or missing altogether.  At a fifth-floor unit, “Toya” had been given a new intercom, and her walls had been repaired and painted. But she is still contending with cracked, peeling paint, and non-existent light fixtures and smoke alarms. And she said that repair workers had only painted over the mold in her apartment, rather than removing the hazard, leaving her daughters exposed to dangerous conditions. 

Tenants at both homes said repair crews had promised to return to their homes to complete unfinished business, but never came back. 
Toya said she didn’t find much solace in the news that her landlord might soon sell the building, especially given that many tenants had not been paying rent recently due to the condition of their homes.

“Alright, he’s gonna sell the building. What’s gonna happen to us?” Toya wondered. “It’s not our fault we live in these conditions.”