70 Orchard Street, Manhattan, NY 10002

70 Orchard Street is a five-story, 16-unit Old Law Tenement building located in the Lower East Side, owned by Joe Erlichster and constructed in 1920. The building has experienced persistent heat and hot water issues throughout 2023-2024, with eight documented complaints between December 2023 and October 2024, all affecting the entire building. Despite these emergency complaints, HPD was unable to gain access to conduct inspections in most cases during this period. The building's boiler system has been a recurring concern, with two Department of Buildings inspections in early 2024 revealing hazardous conditions, including separation of components and a steam leak, resulting in active ECB violations with significant penalties ($9,375 total).

Multiple Housing Maintenance Code violations remain open as of 2024, including issues with garbage storage, fire escape maintenance, and self-closing doors. The property has undergone several inspections and maintenance checks between 2022 and 2025, with the most recent rodent inspection in June 2025 passing successfully. While the building has maintained a zero-reporting history for bedbugs over the past several years (2019-2024), it did fail a rodent inspection in June 2023, though subsequent inspections in 2024 and 2025 passed. The building's maintenance history shows attention to various systems and compliance issues, with some violations remaining open as of 2024, particularly relating to waste management and structural maintenance.

The property has a consistent record of filing annual bedbug reports, all indicating no infestations or eradications reported during their respective periods. The building's recent history suggests ongoing challenges with building systems, particularly heating and hot water, which have been the subject of multiple complaints. Compliance with various housing maintenance codes has been inconsistent, with several open violations remaining as of the latest records. The property has maintained good records in terms of rodent inspections since 2023, though there was a period of rat activity noted in late 2022. While the building has experienced various maintenance issues, it has consistently reported zero bedbug incidents over the past five years, indicating effective pest management practices in this regard.