Heat and hot water remains a hot-button issue in North Brooklyn these days, but it’s not necessarily a new phenomenon.
For tenants of 491 Keap Street, on top of Hotel Indigo and the restaurant Continent, sporadic outages of heat (and air conditioning during the summer months) and hot water have been plaguing them for roughly three years.
The building, which was built in 2018 and contains 52 units, is under the control of Plaza Management and The Chetrit Group, particularly landlord Meyer Chetrit (who was indicted in the fall for harassing two rent-regulated tenants in hopes of pressuring them to move out of his Chelsea property). However, the building is currently in foreclosure and unpaid bills keep stacking up — resulting in stop-service threats from Con Ed.
Another issue cited by tenants is alarms going off at random moments of the day or night without cause, which was discovered to be due to those who service the alarms not being paid, according to Alex Hughes, who lives at 491 Keap.
“It’s always an onion of owed money,” Hughes said. “But the fact of the matter is things aren’t fixed. It’s just a very broken system.”
Earlier last year, the 491 Keap Street Association was formed from a group of concerned tenants hoping to finally see some action taken to improve their living conditions. That action included a lawsuit facilitated by the Association’s legal representation, Grimble & LoGuidice LLP.
In late summer 2025, foreclosure and real estate attorney Jason Sackoor. Esq was assigned to the property as a court-appointed receiver to make adequate repairs However, in the months since, no significant changes were made or services provided, with some primary complaints being the lack of essential repairs, general building management services, and a present superintendent.
Now, following another court decision, the group recently won a lawsuit allowing them to pursue drop Sackoor and pursue a 7A administrator, defined as being “appointed by the Court to operate privately owned buildings that have conditions that are dangerous to the tenants’ life, health and safety. The administrators act under Court Order to collect rents and use the money to provide essential services to the tenants and make necessary repairs” per HPD.
“Upon due deliberation and consideration, this Court finds that Tenants established their right to equitable relief,” judge Genine Edwards wrote in the decision. “The Tenants’ exhibits make it painstakingly clear that repairs have been minimal to nonexistent since the receivership appointment. ln opposition, the receiver failed to adequately justify the delay in rectifying the hazardous conditions that remain at the premises.”
This decision was filed on January 30, so improvements are still slow going.
A temporary boiler has been provided to the building, but has proven to be inadequate and will reportedly stop working for days. Even guests of Hotel Indigo are sharing their own misgivings about conditions. Multiple guests have mentioned no hot water in their Google reviews from as recently as the past few weeks.
For the record, rents range from roughly $3,000 to $7,000, with a 3-bed, 2-bath going for $7,870 a month last June, per StreetEasy. Pretty large price to pay for no heat or hot water!