Lobby Renovation Doesn't Qualify as MCI

(Decision submitted by David Hershey-Webb of the Manhattan law firm of Himmelstein McConnell Gribben Donoghue & Joseph, attorneys for the tenants.) Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on a lobby renovation. The DRA ruled against landlord. Landlord appealed and lost. A lobby renovation, in itself, doesn't qualify as an MCI. It must be done in connection with and be directly related to a major capital improvement. Landlord's lobby renovation wasn't done in connection with MCI work. It included replacement of broken marble walls and the installation of new marble walls, strip cleaning and polishing of the entire lobby walls and marble baseboards in common hallways on 12 floors, the replacement of broken marble steps, the plastering and skim coating of common hallways, the installation of new entrance doors and a new sliding middle door in the lobby, and replacement of mailboxes. Only the doors and the mailboxes could qualify as MCIs. But the mailboxes didn't qualify, because they weren't moved from an outer vestibule to an inner lobby area. And the doors were disallowed because landlord didn't properly disclose its relationship with the contractor that installed the doors.

Jadam Equities Ltd./Tenants of 514 West 110th Street: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. QI430048RT (7/3/08) [7-pg. doc.]