Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Luxury condos offer cancer as an amenity

'Toxic' dust-up at Midtown apartment building
By DAREH GREGORIAN, NY Post

Shoddy construction work at a luxury Midtown building left residents with apartments covered in a dust that had higher levels of a carcinogen than what was found at Ground Zero, a report says.

Crystalline silica, a toxic substance found in mortar, permeated many of the apartments at L'Ecole, at 212 E. 47th St., during the facade work, said Steven Wagner, a lawyer for tenants who are now suing the building.

Microecologies Inc., an environmental-testing firm, reported finding "highly elevated levels" of the toxin in Steven Rosenhaus' 20th-floor apartment last May, seven months after he says he came home to find it blanketed in dust from the work.

"It was like there had been a snowfall," said Rosenhaus, a 53-year-old work-at-home consultant who suffered breathing trouble and eye irritation.

Calls and e-mails to the building's managing agent weren't returned. A rep for Extell, the developer overseeing the construction, did not return calls, nor did the lawyer for the building's ownership group. Building management, in court papers, has denied any wrongdoing.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

lol

Anonymous said...

love it. great news.

Anonymous said...

Live in Flushing. You can get cancer from the new condos and get some 3rd world disease from the unhygienic residents of this fine town.

Anonymous said...

New York City has a whole lot more in common with third-world cities than with major European capitals like London, Paris, or Rome.

Anonymous said...

Yes, like it's residents, for one. Our type of government is another.

Anonymous said...

This is an 'old' building (1979) having a facade renovation. Being old is no excuse for contractors to spread toxic material around, but it does keeps me alerted of possible toxic material in my old 1920's home if I ever renovate. Who knows what's under all those layers of paint. Take precautions when you renovate old and inspect when buying old or new.

Lino in concrete building said...

"it does keeps me alerted of possible toxic material in my old 1920's home if I ever renovate."

-A;most certain to have lead paint and if original plumbing -may- have lead piping.

Insulation (if any) may be asbestos or contain formaldehyde.

If a home was built or re-wired in the mid-sixties to late 70s aluminum wiring is a present danger. DIY wiring in these old place always makes things interesting..

Make damn sure you have BOTH smoke and Co-2 detectors in any of these old homes.