By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
Queens residents are calling on A&E Real Estate, which was named the worst landlord in the city earlier this year, to pay $6 million to cover damages they suffered in a fire that evicted them from their homes more than two years ago. <\/p>\n
Residents of 43-09 47th Ave. in Sunnyside rallied earlier this week against A&E, and insurance carrier Chubb, and called on the landlord to fix the damage caused by the fire and allow them to return home. <\/p>\n
The tenants were joined by a handful of local elected officials in their calls for reparations from A&E, whose president, Maggie Brunn, recently topped the Public Advocate\u2019s list of worst landlords in the city. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not asking for sympathy. I\u2019m looking for accountability,\u201d said G. Faith Little, a tenant of the building. \u201cThe management company collected rent from me for years. They owe me \u2013 and every displaced tenant \u2013 a timeline, transparency, and action.\u201d <\/p>\n
On Dec 20, 2023, just a few days before the holidays, a fire ripped through the Western Queens apartment complex, injuring 14 and displacing nearly 250 residents. <\/p>\n
Tenants moved to temporary housing paid for by A&E, which was then extended six-months later following a deal between the real estate company and Borough President Donovan Richards. <\/p>\n
Since then, tenants have asked the company to fix the damages so they can return to their homes. <\/p>\n
However, officials say that A&E has taken no steps to actually make repairs, and instead intends to demolish the building to convert rent regulated units to market rate units. <\/p>\n
“For over two years, these families have lived in limbo while A&E and Chubb Insurance<\/p>\n
prioritize their bottom line over people’s lives,\u201d said Congressmember Nydia<\/p>\n
Vel\u00e1zquez. \u201cIt is unacceptable that our neighbors remain displaced from their rent-stabilized homes due to corporate negligence and stalling tactics. We are demanding that A&E stop the delays, compensate these tenants, and ensure every resident can finally return to their community.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tenants were joined in their calls for help by Richards, Vel\u00e1zquez, State Senator Michael Gianaris and Councilmember Julie Won, who is running for Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s congressional seat. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe demand that A&E pay the more than $6 million they owe to the tenants of 43-09 47th Ave. and begin repairs to this building so our neighbors can return home,\u201d said Won. \u201cA&E is a slumlord that continues to fail their residents.\u201d <\/p>\n
A&E executives Margaret Brunn and Donald Hastings were named the two worst landlords in the five boroughs on the public advocate\u2019s annual list last month. The two have nearly 50 buildings in Queens between them on the list, including the worst in the borough by violations from Housing Preservation and Development, and racked up a combined 6,740 violations among their Queens properties from November 2024 to October 2025. <\/p>\n
This is just the latest in a series of bad headlines for A&E. <\/p>\n
In January, prior to the release of the PA\u2019s list, the city\u2019s Department of Housing Preservation & Development reached a $2.1 million settlement with A&E for violations in 14 of the buildings it operates across three boroughs, including in Queens. Roughly 750 tenants live in the buildings, according to HPD, and have reported bed bugs, fire hazards, malfunctioning elevators and other issues over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor years, A&E has operated with callous disregard for those residing in its properties, racking up over 140,000 total violations,\u201d Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. \u201cThis is not just a failure to serve those to whom it holds an obligation, it is a cruelty to over tens of thousands of New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brett Gallaway, the attorney for the A&E tenants, said that they are preparing to bring the legal case against the landlord to trial. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unfortunate that A&E and Chubb, who have the means to right this wrong, continue to slow roll the remediation and offer offensively lowball settlement offers,\u201d he said <\/p>\n
A&E defended its actions in a statement to the Eagle on Wednesday, and blamed their insurance carrier for the hold up. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince the day of the fire, we have taken every possible step to rebuild the building,\u201d said a spokesperson. \u201cSadly, the property insurance company has shown zero interest in paying out claims despite its obligations and is preventing the building from being rebuilt.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us be clear: if it were up to A&E, we would start rebuilding this property tomorrow,\u201d the spokesperson added. \u201cWe know how challenging this has been on our residents, which is why we offered every impacted household a new apartment in our portfolio at their existing rent, even if it came at a loss to A&E. While we did so, we also provided financial support for essentials and paid for hotel accommodations. We have always put our residents first.\u201d <\/p>\n
Chubb declined to comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach Queens residents are calling on A&E Real Estate, which was named the worst landlord in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-138845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}