168 West 25th Street, Manhattan, NY 10001

168 West 25th Street is a 4-story, 3-unit old law tenement building in Chelsea, built in 1913 and currently owned by Won Lee. The building's most recent major issue occurred in September 2022, when multiple heat and hot water system failures affected the entire building, prompting multiple emergency complaints and inspections that resulted in several violations. These violations included problems with heat and hot water supply (Class C), cooking gas access (Class C), and issues with the gas range in Apartment 2 (Class C).

Additional safety concerns emerged during this period, including defective smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in Apartment 2, a locked fire escape door, and problems with the building's heating system access. The building has been subject to annual bedbug report compliance requirements, with open violations noted in 2023 and 2024. More recently, in September 2023, there was another isolated food poisoning incident investigated by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Despite these challenges, the building has demonstrated compliance with rodent inspections in 2025, 2024, and previous years, passing all inspections since 2012. The property has undergone various repairs as documented in Department of Housing Preservation and Development records, with issues generally resolved upon inspection. The building's most recent housing maintenance code violations (2022) included the need for proper maintenance of safety systems (smoke and CO detectors) and various plumbing and heating issues, some of which remain open as of 2024. The building's history of heat and hot water issues, particularly during the 2022 incident, represents the most significant pattern of maintenance challenges on record, though most violations from that period were subsequently addressed.