A New York state judge has ordered the landlord of a Hell's Kitchen apartment building to be arrested and held at Rikers Island for failing to make repairs to two properties in Upper Manhattan.
As Gothamist first reported, Judge Jack Stoller on Friday ordered Daniel Ohevshalom to serve 60 days in jail. The two buildings in question on W. 170th Street in Washington Heights have a combined total of nearly 700 public violations from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD).
Retired teacher Loida Irizarry, a tenant in one of the buildings, told Gothamist that living in the apartment has been “hell for the past four years.” Upper Manhattan residents sued Ohebshalom in 2022, but she said problems have continued unabated since then, including frequent power outages and rat infestations.
Mr. Ohebshalom ranks first on public law scholar Jumaane Williams' list of New York City's worst landlords and is known as the “Slum King” of Hell's Kitchen. His properties at 410 and 412 W46th Street have a total of 537 outstanding HPD violations of his, 149 of which are classified as Class C, or “immediate danger.” City Councilman Eric Bottcher decried the property as being in “substandard conditions that violate basic principles of human decency.”
Last October, City Hall charged Oheshalom and his associates, Richard Lagana and Robin Ignico, with years of neglect throughout his property and operating an illegal hotel on his Hell's Kitchen property. announced that it would pay a settlement of $4.1 million to resolve the allegations. After the lawsuit, one of the buildings was placed in his 7A, a government program that places its operation in the hands of a court-appointed administrator.
W46th Street resident Mark McBarron Kessler told W42ST he doesn't consider the arrests to be “good news.” “We are still living in danger every day,” Kessler wrote in a text message. “The recent arrest of one of several slum operators who were allowed to hide under an LLC means that we have been treated like the bad guys, told to move out, and have spent years in prison. “It's just evidence of the injustice that I had to endure. Frankly, this is not justice enough for me,” he added.
Elected officials in Hell's Kitchen celebrated the news of Ohevshalom's arrest warrant.
Councilor Tony Simone told us: “I have been calling for the arrest of Mr. Oheshalom for criminal abuse of tenants, and I am pleased that the city has taken this important step to bring him to justice. It makes it clear to landlords who wish to do so that they will do so and face the consequences.”
Sen. Brad Hoylman-Segal said he was pleased the warrant was issued, saying, “Oheh Shalom violated court orders to make repairs with over 700 violations in just two buildings in Manhattan. ” he said. “Not only did they violate the law, but by doing so they were putting the health and safety of their tenants at risk.”
“Slumlord Daniel Ohebshalom has spent years abusing his tenants and accusing the authorities, but this arrest warrant shows that no one is above the law in our city. This is a stark warning to slumlords everywhere: Come clean or prepare to face the consequences. We deserve better and we will not rest until all tenants are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” CM Bottcher said.
