East 118th Street, Manhattan, NY 10035

The 35-unit, 8-story residential building at East 118th Street in East Harlem, owned by Nick Smajlaj, was completed in 2020 and has experienced several significant maintenance issues over the past two years. The most pressing current concerns, as of mid-2025, involve multiple open complaints regarding unsanitary conditions and pests, with at least one open complaint related to the ventilation system, flooring, and wall conditions. Between April and May 2025 alone, there were four complaints about pests that inspectors could not access for verification, and a similar pattern of inaccessible inspections occurred in late 2024.

While the building has passed multiple rodent inspections in 2023 and 2024, these recent pest complaints suggest ongoing challenges with vermin control. The building's construction period (2020-2021) was marked by several compliance issues, including multiple Construction Safety Compliance violations in late 2020 and fall 2021, such as failure to maintain safety equipment and inadequate housekeeping. These resulted in various penalties, including a $12,500 violation for expired business license in October 2021.

Housing Maintenance Code violations were issued in November 2023 for mice infestation and water leak issues in Apartment 2E, though these were subsequently certified as corrected in 2024. The building has maintained a clean record for bedbugs since 2022, with all recent reports indicating zero infested units. Despite the ongoing pest complaints, the building has successfully passed regular rodent inspections in 2024 and 2025, suggesting some level of effective pest management, though the recent pattern of inaccessible inspections indicates challenges in confirming resolution of issues through official channels.