1539 Westchester Avenue, Bronx, NY 10472

The 17-unit, 5-story tenement building at 1539 Westchester Avenue in Parkchester, owned by Louis Popovic, has experienced several significant maintenance issues in recent months, particularly regarding building-wide heat and hot water systems. In early 2025, there were multiple complaints and violations related to heat and hot water, with approximately eight separate complaints between February 4-11 regarding both apartment-specific and building-wide issues. Some of these complaints resulted in inspections that revealed violations.

More recently, in April 2025, there was a power outage that prompted an HPD inspection, though the inspection was not completed. As of February 2025, there was also an open complaint regarding a slow water leak that HPD had attempted to investigate. The building has a documented history of maintenance challenges, with violations from late 2024 showing problems with individual apartments' heating systems (specifically in apartments 3 and 6), as well as issues with carbon monoxide and smoke detectors in apartment 12A.

Recent investigations in 2023-2024 revealed mouse infestation problems in apartment 12A, though these were certified as corrected by November 2023. The property has undergone multiple rodent inspections between 2018 and 2025, with varying results including some indicating rat activity. While there have been several housing maintenance code violations identified and subsequently closed, including issues with emergency exits and heating systems, there are currently open violations related to a window frame repair needed in apartment 12A (as of October 2023) and a fire escape window lock issue noted in February 2024. The building's bedbug history shows mostly negative reports in recent years, with only one infested unit reported in 2021-2022, and none reported in the most recent three annual filings.