445 West 19th Street, Manhattan, NY 10011

445 West 19th Street in Chelsea is a 10-story, 71-unit residential building constructed in 1989, currently owned by Elton Wells. The building has experienced recurring heat and hot water issues, with four emergency complaints filed between May 10-29, 2025, all indicating problems throughout the entire building, though HPD inspectors were often unable to gain access for verification. This is not the first instance of heating problems; similar complaints were recorded in 2021 and earlier years.

The building has also faced pest-related challenges, with multiple complaints of unsanitary conditions due to pests between 2019-2020, though inspections often could not be conducted due to access issues, and no violations were ultimately issued. A bedbug report violation was issued in 2023-2024, though the building has maintained a record of zero reported infestations in all eight sequential bedbug filings from 2019 to present. The building's maintenance history shows some concerning patterns, particularly regarding access issues during inspections.

In addition to heating problems, there have been two significant elevator-related complaints (2020) and construction-related complaints (2021), but inspections found no violations in these cases. Environmental inspections for rodent presence have been conducted regularly, with the most recent one in October 2024 showing passed results, consistent with previous inspections from 2010-2019. While the building has maintained generally good housekeeping standards as evidenced by passing rodent inspections and having no reported bedbug infestations, the recurring heating problems and access issues during inspections remain areas of concern, though no recent violations have been issued for these issues.