Merie Williams

The condominium building I live in Fort Greene had on going community meetings and I was lucky enough to attend this meeting with my mom. The MAJOR issue is obtaining a proper certificate of occupancy. The investor Joshua Landau failed to get one since the building has been completed in 2009. The 96 Rockwell Place board asked a New York State Supreme Court judge for a lawsuit filed Saturday, claiming a temporary certificate of occupancy expired in July with no permanent approval in place. At the board meeting, the homeowners claimed since there were no certificate of occupancy, it would cause financial havoc on them causing them to have to evacuate. Without the TCO, now the residents can’t sell, refinance or obtain homeowner’s insurance but even worse, has caused some unit owners unable to pay their mortgages.

Landau, of Manhattan-based Integrated Capital and Eric Derector, of Manhattan-based Quest Builders Group, converted the  former piano factory in 2007 into a condo with 37 residential units and one commercial unit.”The sponsor’s interest is, and always has been aligned with the condominium board,” Landau said in an email.“The Department of Buildings has granted numerous TCOs in the past for the premises and we are working diligently to resolve any additional requirements they may have. We expect the matter to be resolved as soon as possible.” Director did not return calls. A Department of Buildings spokesperson did not return calls. In July, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered the developers to void buyers’ contracts after the condo board did not meet many construction and financial complaints for the unit owners.

Our community board says that the developers owed $61,000 in unpaid common charges .The developers failed to finish construction on storage units,five years after some residents paid for the units and moved in to the building. Lastly, the developers spent about $37,000 of common charges on expenses they should have covered on their own. However, Landau denied that claim and said that the developers were using money from condo sales to repay the outstanding common charges. The community board meeting was lead by our board President Richard Coolidge. It was indept and informative. Everyone was quite tense on the issues collectively at hand. The meeting helped put into perspective the actions the board took, where it landed them and the necessary steps they will continue to take in order to obtain the certificate of occupancy.