“Apartments That Suit Every Lifestyle” – Except You Have a Incapacity

FHJC FILES NEW DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT AGAINST REPEAT OFFENDERS

 

Today, the Fair Housing Justice Center (FHJC) introduced it has filed a brand new grievance alleging incapacity discrimination at newly constructed multi-family rental housing affiliated with The Rabsky Group, a serious developer of multi-family housing in Brooklyn and Queens.

The grievance alleges illegal inaccessible design and building at three properties: Astor on Third II in Astoria, Queens; The Northern in Long Island City, Queens; and Bridgeview DUMBO in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Altogether, the buildings comprise 560 residences.

The named defendants are property homeowners and builders Developing NY State LLC; Galaxy Developers LLC; Astoria 2 LLC; thirty ninth Ave Holdings 1 LLC; thirty ninth Ave Holdings 2 LLC; and 69 Adams LLC; architect Naresh Mahangu; structure agency Hamish Whitefield Architects PC; architectural and engineering agency NY Building Associates Inc.; and inside design agency Durukan Design, Inc.

Several of the Defendants have been sued by the FHJC earlier than—some a number of instances—for related violations. Despite agreeing to adjust to honest housing legal guidelines in resolving these earlier fits, these Defendants “willfully disregarded their legal obligations to design and construct apartment buildings with accessibility features that ensure safe and habitable dwelling units for physically disabled individuals,” in line with the grievance.

(Note: Bridgeview DUMBO Architecture agency Hamish Whitefield Architects, P.C. has not been named as a defendant in earlier accessibility lawsuits filed by FHJC.)

The grievance alleges a number of violations of the federal Fair Housing Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. A 2024 investigation by the FHJC revealed quite a few accessibility boundaries on the properties, together with

• communal roof decks, patios, and personal balconies with thresholds which might be too excessive
• loos which might be inaccessible as a consequence of slender flooring house
• a galley kitchen with inadequate maneuverable house
• hallways which might be too slender
• doorways to loos, bedrooms, balconies, and closets which might be too slender
• mailbox keyholes that exceeded the required peak restrict
• laundry room dryers stacked above washing machines, making them too excessive
• a co-working house with inaccessible telephone cubicles
• a enterprise heart with inaccessible personal assembly rooms

During one check, an agent for the properties acknowledged the accessibility failures to an FHJC tester who used a mobility scooter. The agent identified how some residences have been narrower than others, which might make it more durable for her to “turn around” and “maneuver.” The agent additionally acknowledged the issue of a excessive terrace threshold, saying that the regulation could be on the tester’s facet to have the constructing set up a ramp, in line with the grievance.

The grievance seeks injunctive reduction to finish the discrimination, retrofits to right the inaccessible options, honest housing coaching for defendants and their brokers and staff, and different remedial motion to make sure future compliance with honest housing accessibility necessities, together with financial damages.

The grievance was filed within the Eastern District of New York on March 25, 2026 and could be learn in full HERE.

“Defendants claim on their website that their building ‘offers apartments that suit every lifestyle’ while knowingly continuing to exclude people with disabilities from consideration in their design and construction process,” acknowledged FHJC Legal Director David Berman. “People with disabilities are not an afterthought or an asterisk. They need to be included when we say ‘everybody.’”

“By continuing to design and build multiple inaccessible apartment buildings, these Defendants are creating neighborhoods that are closed to New Yorkers with physical disabilities,” stated Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP (ECBAWM) Partner Diane L. Houk. “This lawsuit seeks to end these abuses and require Defendants to conform their business practices to the law.”

The FHJC is represented by Ms. Houk and ECBAWM attorneys Nick Bourland and Sydney Zazzaro.

The mission of the FHJC, a nonprofit civil rights group, is to get rid of housing discrimination; promote insurance policies and packages that foster open, accessible, and inclusive communities; and strengthen enforcement of honest housing legal guidelines within the New York City area.