20 Bowery, Manhattan, NY 10013

20 Bowery is a 4-story, 21-unit residential tenement building constructed in 1910, currently owned by Gim Eng and located in Chinatown. The building has experienced several significant incidents over the past five years that warrant attention. Most notably, in 2020, there was a serious safety situation involving a defective sidewalk shed that led to an injury, resulting in multiple Environmental Control Board (ECB) violations for inadequate safety measures, missing guardrails, improper storage, and a dangerous gap between the shed and building facade, with proposed penalties exceeding $10,000.

While these violations were marked as "active," records indicate a stop work order was fully rescinded by mid-2020. More recent concerns include three ECB violations from July 2021 related to failure to comply with previous commissioner's orders, with fines imposed, though these were later resolved. In 2023, there was a complaint regarding work without a permit, which was referred to the Department of Consumer Affairs.

The building has maintained a good record regarding pest management, with consistent reports showing zero bedbug infestations from 2018 through 2024, and passed rodent inspections in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, though there was one instance of rat activity noted in June 2022. The property has had several building violations for failure to file required inspection reports, including external low pressure and boiler inspections, though these were either dismissed or resolved. The most recent plumbing issue, involving a bathtub/shower problem reported in May 2021, was investigated by HPD but resulted in no violations being issued.