NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — New York City finally ended its decade-long legal battle with illegal hotel operator Hank Fried with a settlement that will provide affordable housing units on the Upper West Side, the mayor’s office announced Monday.
The $1.1 million settlement, orchestrated by the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE), includes a permanent injunction against illegal usage of the building seized from Fried, which includes short-term rentals.
Fried, who owned three buildings with over 300 apartments on the Upper West Side, will have to pay roughly $2 million in fines to the city for running the illegal hotel business, falsely advertising short-term rentals and tenant safety violations.
One of Fried’s buildings will be converted into affordable housing for 82 tenants with rent protections, rehabilitation, and social services on site. 58 of the homes will be for formerly homeless New Yorkers, nine homes will be filled through the city’s affordable housing lottery portal, Housing Connect, and 15 of the units reserved for existing tenants who will receive extra protections from the city to maintain their affordable rents.
“Today, we are not only shutting down an illegal hotel operator but also creating 80 new affordable homes for New Yorkers struggling to get by,” said Mayor Eric Adams. “The old approaches to the affordable housing crisis are no longer enough — which is why my administration is pursuing bold, innovative strategies like this one to create housing New Yorkers can actually afford. We need a response with the urgency to match the crisis, and we will explore every opportunity, in every corner of the city, to create the affordable housing New Yorkers need and deserve.”
Illegal hotel operations, like Fried’s, affect the city’s housing crisis by taking away available properties for New Yorkers, according to officials. Without proper oversight, the hotels also create safety concerns for the tenants.
“Hank Freid’s illegal operation exacerbated this city’s already extreme affordable housing crisis,” said New York City Councilmember Shaun Abreu. “Tenants and community members had long complained about the ‘hotel’ at 97th Street. I want to thank the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement for putting an end to this scheme and for introducing in its place 82 new units of affordable housing to serve low-income and formerly unhoused New Yorkers.”
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