Chelsea, Manhattan HABITAT Magazine

The condo board at the Fitzroy, a a 14-unit luxury tower at 514 W. 24th St. in Chelsea, is suing the property’s owner and JDS Development Group‘s Michael Stern over alleged defects and unfinished amenities, The Real Deal reports.

The lawsuit claims that amenities and common spaces fall “woefully short of industry standards” and that Stern misappropriated $1 million intended for building amenities and instead used the money for other real estate ventures.

The board is seeking at least $5 million in damages. The board claimed in its complaint that the owner of the property left swaths of the promised project unfinished or improperly installed, including “leaving empty rooms instead of wine cellars; trash heaps instead of finished storage areas; and non-working bathrooms, laundry facilities, and saunas in common areas abandoned before they were completed.”

A spokesperson for the sponsor called the lawsuit “entirely without merit,” adding that “the board prevented sponsor from completing minor and typical closeout items, and instead chose this ill-advised publicity stunt in the alternative.”

Stern served as president of the condo board from 2020 until February 2025, during which time the building’s sponsors, through Stern, controlled the board, according to the complaint. He had agreed to fix the defects before abandoning the project and leaving the board and unit-owners to make repairs and complete amenities, according to the complaint. 

The complaint lists a litany of alleged issues, including cellar drains that “represent the inverse of proper installation,” leaking sinks, and dryers that “routinely malfunction.”

The board claimed that it hired architects to inspect the building’s alleged defects every year starting in 2022, and that as of Aug. 2024, it was estimated to cost at least $4 million to cure defects in the common areas.