Brooklyn Co-op Tops List of NYC Buildings With Most Elevator Complaints The Ranking Comes After a Deadly Elevator Accident in Manhattan

Brooklyn Co-op Tops List of NYC Buildings With Most Elevator Complaints
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A co-op in the Homecrest section of Brooklyn leads among New York City residential buildings with the most elevator 311 complaints in the last year, Curbed reported. The list published by the home search website Localize.city comes in the wake of an elevator mishap in Kips Bay that killed a man last week.

Leading the list is a co-op building at 1750 East 14th Street in Brooklyn that garnered the most elevator complaints with 92. That was followed by 751 Gerard Avenue, a rental building in the Bronx, with 75 complaints, and 1980 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard in Manhattan with 69 complaints.

Rounding out the Top 10 buildings in the city with the highest amount of elevator complaints: 512 East 145th Street, Bronx (45 complaints); 87 Melrose Street, Brooklyn (45); 137 West 141 Street, Manhattan (44); 1716 Avenue T, Brooklyn (39); 1114 Morris Avenue, Bronx (39); 1975 Birchall Avenue, Bronx (37); and 2185 Bolton Street, Bronx (33).

Last Thursday,  an elevator malfunction at the Manhattan Promenade luxury rental building in Kips Bay killed a man identified Sam Waisbren, 30. According to The New York Post, Waisbren was about to exit the elevator in the building's lobby level when the car suddenly fell from the lobby to the shaft below, crushing him to death.

The city's Medical Examiner's Officer later determined that Waisbren died of blunt force injuries to his neck and torso.

According to a report in The New York Times, Manhattan Promenade was fined almost $1,300 this past May by the Buildings Department over a mechanical issue regarding one of its elevators. Inspectors allowed the elevator to resume operation following a repair, though the violation remained open at the time of the accident because the the fine wasn't.

Charles Waisbren, the victim's father, reportedly said that his son had frequently complained about the elevator problems at the 183-unit building.

The Department of Investigation is looking into the accident. Department of Building inspectors visited the building to examine the elevator, according to a spokesman.  

David Chiu is an associate editor at The Cooperator.  

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