The developers of three new rental apartment complexes in Queens and Brooklyn boast in marketing materials about “apartments that suit every lifestyle” — unless you happen to use a wheelchair, a new federal lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Brooklyn Federal Court, goes after the developers, architects and designers behind the buildings — Astor on Third II, a 137-unit building in Astoria, The Northern, a 198-unit two-building complex in Long Island City and the 225-unit Bridgeview DUMBO in Brooklyn.
“These companies have openly ignored their legal obligations and denied equal housing opportunity to people with physical disabilities
in New York City,” reads the suit, filed by the non-profit Fair Housing Justice Center.
Several of the defendants have been hit with similar issues at the original Astor on Third building, agreeing to a $500,000 lawsuit settlement in February that requires them to fix accessibility issues.
“While we were negotiating the retrofits to be made to bring the building into compliance, they went on to build Astor II down the street,” said lawyer Diane Houk, of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel, which represents the housing non-profit. “We didn’t realize at the time it was related, and that one has violations, and then Fair Housing Justice Center found out there were other buildings.”
Those buildings got their certificates of occupancy in 2024. The justice center sent anonymous testers that year looking for potential accessibility problems and violations of the federal Fair Housing Act. They found plenty, the lawsuit alleges.
The problems included narrow kitchens, bathrooms and doors, mailbox keys and laundry room dryers too high for wheelchair users, and steps up leading to private balconies and common areas like roof decks, the suit alleges.
“It’s not just that they can’t get onto the balcony. They still have to pay rent for that space. So they’re essentially renting an apartment where they’re paying for a part of the apartment they cannot use. Just fundamentally unfair,” Houk said.
One tester, a New York City woman who uses a motorized scooter after being badly hurt in a car crash, told The News she found steps in the several thresholds of The Northern that she had to “pop a wheelie” to get over. “I have to jump them, you know, back up and then ride fast to get over them,” said the tester, who spoke on condition her anonymity be maintained.
According to the lawsuit, one real estate agent showing an apartment suggested to the tester, “There must be something we
can do about this. Add a ramp or something. Cause you have the ADA on your side.”
After her crash, she said, she noticed the small obstacles for wheelchair users that she used to take for granted when she was able to walk.
“It’s real, when you’re not taken into consideration, when people are creating and doing and building and stuff like that, the impact on the individual is a little dehumanizing sometimes,” she said. “So it is important, because in 2026 this should not be, because, even with the things that have to happen, why couldn’t you make that step down level? You’re building a whole building here.”
The Northern received a “density bonus” from the city allowing for more apartments in exchange for making 37 of those units affordable housing, city records show.
The defendants in the lawsuit include several limited liability corporations and holding companies affiliated with the Rabsky Group, as well as architecture firm NY Building Associates, engineer Naresh Mahangu, Durukan Design and Fischer Rasmussen Whitefield Architects.
Their attorneys did not return messages from the News seeking comment.