Tenant Dies in Columbia Building under Renovation

The family of an elderly woman who lived on the second floor of a Columbia-owned building currently under construction said she died at St. Luke's Hospital on Friday, apparently from respiratory problems. The family and community resident Carolyn Birden claim the woman's respiratory distress was caused by inhalation of dust, debris, and chemicals from Columbia's renovation of a building on the corner of West 109th Street and Amsterdam.

Columbia is renovating an unoccupied section of the building as part of a larger project to establish faculty housing and a K-8 lab school.

Birden said another resident of the building was admitted to the hospital suffering from a similar complaint but discharged a week later.

A stop-work order for the construction was issued on Jan. 16 by the 24th precinct of the New York City Police Department. The order cited several code violations, including "work without a permit" and "removal of interior partitions." However, Deputy Vice President of Institutional Real Estate Bill Scott said the work permit, which must be posted in the building for public viewing, had been torn down. As a result, the 24th precinct issued the order under the erroneous impression that Columbia was renovating the building illegally. The work permit was recently restored to the building, and after about a week and a half, construction has restarted.

Scott said his department was far from putting residents at a disadvantage. He said they are renovating the building "to add to the supply of affordable housing in the community." He said his department had held meetings with building residents and Community Board 7 about the construction and had offered to move residents to other buildings in the area. None accepted the offer, he said, but three tenants did relocate into the newly renovated apartments in the building.

Although Scott did not have information about the allegedly dangerous living conditions caused by the construction, he insisted that no construction had ever occured in apartments still occupied by tenants. Neither the building superintendent nor he had received any complaints about the construction until a few days ago, Scott said.

As of yet, no charges have been pressed, but Birden suggested in a message posted to an online bulletin board for Morningside Heights residents that she and other residents may seek legal action.