Ongoing leak leaves mail and packages wet inside Kensington building
Lily Schwab has lived in the building for more than 50 years. She says problems started about a year ago, but the leaking ceiling and other issues have become unbearable in recent months.
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Tenants at 514 Ocean Pkwy. say their mail and packages are getting wet, since water has been pouring through the lobby ceiling for nearly two months.
"Literally, you need rubber boots to get to the mailbox. And the packages are wet,” said longtime tenant Lilly Schwab.
Schwab has lived in the building for more than 50 years. She says problems started about a year ago, but the leaking ceiling and other issues have become unbearable in recent months.
"This problem has been going on for approximately two months now, on and off," she said. "I don't know what the apartment is upstairs, but when he takes a bath or shower, it pours down here.”
She says she's complained to building management repeatedly, to no avail.
"When it comes to repairing everything in this building, they just send anybody," Schwab said. "Nothing gets fixed. Nothing gets done."
The building is owned by Weinreb Management. The city sued them in 2022 for allegedly failing to maintain its properties for years and allowing hundreds of violations to go uncorrected.
The lawsuit accused Weinreb of allowing its buildings to deteriorate to the point of posing "an imminent threat to the health and safety of tenants and the public.”
Nearly a dozen buildings were named, including 455 Ocean Pkwy., directly across the street from Schwab's building.
News 12 reported last week on ongoing elevator problems there.
Tenants at 514 Ocean Parkway say the building's single elevator was also out of service for several weeks, which was a serious problem for Schwab's husband, who uses a wheelchair.
"Three weeks it was out," he said. "I stayed home. I didn't have a choice. I couldn't go out.”
The has since been repaired, but the Department of Buildings issued a violation and a fine for failing to maintain the elevator.
In a statement, the Department of Housing Preservation said it received the complaints about the leak and "will visit the apartment as soon as possible to inspect conditions and issue appropriate violations where necessary.”
News 12 reached out to Weinreb Management, but did not hear back.
