278 West 117th Street, Manhattan, NY 10026

The five-story, 15-unit tenement building at 278 West 117th Street in Harlem, built in 1910 and currently owned by Brian Newman, has experienced recurring heating and electrical issues over the past two years. Most notably, between January and May 2024, there were multiple complaints about inadequate heat and hot water affecting the entire building, with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) unable to gain access for inspections in several cases.

A January 2024 inspection did result in violations for inadequate heat and hot water in Apartment 1A, and a locked boiler room access issue was also documented. The building's electrical systems faced challenges as well, with power outage complaints in January 2024, though inspections did not yield violations. More recent concerns about building conditions were documented in HPD complaints throughout 2024, with repetition of heat and hot water issues continuing into May 2024.

Additional violations were identified in 2024, including infestation issues in Apartment 1A (March 2024) and various maintenance concerns in Apartment 2C (July 2023), such as water leak repairs and plaster surface issues. However, the building has maintained a clean record in terms of bedbug infestations since 2019, with no reported cases in annual filings from 2021 to the present. Recent rodent inspections conducted between 2022 and 2025 have consistently passed, with only one instance of rat activity noted in 2019.