$36M Suit vs. B’klyn Developer
By: Rachel Monahan
September 7th, 2006
CONDO OWNERS in Brooklyn’s trendy DUMBO neighborhood are suing developer Joshua Guttman, whose massive Greenpoint warehouse complex burned in May, over what they call shoddy construction.
The owners of 58 units at 50 Bridge St. want $36 million in damages from Guttman for “hundreds of structural construction defects” and code violations, according to their attorney Adam Leitman Bailey. “In wintertime, you can actually feel cold air coming out” of the electric sockets, said Danny Dulai, 29, an engineer.
Owners paid up to $1 million for apartments with 15-foot ceilings and to-die-for views of the Manhattan skyline starting in 2004. But the condo residents say the building is unstable and plagued by leaks, and has poor ventilation, paper-thin walls and low water pressure.
Guttman owns the Greenpoint Terminal Market, a massive complex of waterfront warehouses that burned in a spectacular blaze blamed on a homeless man in May.
Guttman’s attorney Israel Goldberg could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.