STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Loss of heat and hot water have been recurring issues at the Park Hill Apartments for years, leaving hundreds of Staten Islanders to suffer during the cold winter months.
The longstanding issue, which stems from repeated problems with the buildings’ boiler systems, has left residents out in the cold, at times resorting to boiling pots of water to raise the temperature in their frigid apartments.
Last year, a 75-year-old Park Hill resident who lives on his own endured a month without heat during the dead of winter, with his family concerned that the cold conditions were worsening his asthma and emphysema.
“I am afraid I am going to catch an asthma attack or freeze to death,” the resident, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Advance/SILive.com.
In the past, residents have repeatedly said that the buildings’ former owner, DelShah Capital, refused to fully address the issue, instead opting for cheaper, stopgap measures.
“They fixed a valve in the boiler … they didn’t get a new boiler,” said Raphael Lajara, the son-in-law of the 75-year-old resident. “They do this until it stops working again. This is a bandaid fix.”
But with a new ownership group now in place, a more permanent solution is on the way.
The Advance/SILive.com recently sat down with Simon Bacchus, director of development for The Arker Companies, which will lead the new ownership group’s $165 million rehabilitation of the Park Hill Apartments.
During the meeting, Bacchus discussed the current state of the complex’s heating system and plans to improve it during the two-year renovation.
“The boiler systems at Park Hill consist of three different boiler plants and each of those three boiler plants have two boilers in the plant. As far as we can tell, over the course of the last five to 10 years, only one boiler has been working in each of those boiler plants at any given time,” Bacchus explained.
Since assuming ownership in late December, the Arker Companies has gotten all six boilers up and running, reducing the chance that residents will lose access to heat and hot water at a time when Staten Island is experiencing frigid weather and heavy snow.
“We have really put in the time and money as a first priority knowing that we’re coming in here knowing that there are heating issues. So we’re very happy to report that,” said Bacchus.
The existing boilers will remain in use this winter and next, but will be fully replaced with new boilers during the rehabilitation project, which is expected to be online for winter 2028.