Residents of three fairly new buildings on Webster Avenue that are owned and operated by The Stagg Group have gotten the ear of Community Board 7, which plans to hear from residents at its next Housing, Zoning & Land Use Committee meeting in February.

The Stagg Group, a construction and development company with multiple ongoing projects in Bedford Park and Norwood, told the Norwood News they will be sending a representative to the meeting to hear out the tenants’ concerns.

The news is the latest in a fight waged by tenants over conditions at the buildings at 2985, 2987, and 2999 Webster Ave. Since the Norwood News originally covered the story in October, tenants say their safety and quality-of-life concerns have not been fully addressed. Stagg Group CEO and founder, Mark Stagg, argues his company has been responsive and made improvements to the properties, known collectively as Bedford Park Manor.

“I’m pro-tenant,” Stagg said in a phone interview. He argued the complaints come from only a handful of people and he has already worked to correct some of the initial issues tenants had. “We’re doing everything that we can to maintain the quality of life and we’ll continue to do that. We want to do that.”

Still, tenants are unsatisfied.

Zxavier Simpson, a resident at 2985 Webster Ave., has led the charge in organizing efforts for improved conditions. Having moved from Harlem three years ago, Simpson admits to holding the building to a higher standard. After all, the buildings opened in April 2015.

“I think that for a building that’s been here for three years it shouldn’t have so much issues,” Simpson told the Norwood News.

Some residents, including Shannon Terrell, are beginning to pursue grievances, taking the Stagg Group to Bronx Housing Court. Last week, Terrell petitioned the court over shoddy repairs in her apartment, complaints she alleges have fallen on the landlord’s deaf ears, and a bombardment of “paper notices for rent that is not owed” and unjustified eviction notices.

“These are baseless claims,” Stagg told the Norwood News. He said similar cases have been dismissed in the past. “We pride ourselves on communication, so these complaints are not falling on deaf ears.”

In October, the Norwood News reported on the building’s condition, focusing on water damage, security lapses and Band-Aid fixes to larger issues. In a recent visit to the building by the paper, improvements appeared to have been made, but residents say there are still far too many issues for a building so new.

For the last few years, Stagg has expanded his residential empire into Bedford Park and Norwood, opening a total of five apartment buildings in the neighborhood. A few blocks from Bedford Park Manor, Stagg recently opened Norwood Gardens at East 203rd Street and Webster Avenue. The developer’s self-described signature property, the 13-story Mosholu Grand, is currently under construction on Van Cortlandt Avenue East between Mosholu Parkway and the Grand Concourse.

The complaints at Stagg’s three Webster Avenue buildings have been growing. The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) has logged 44 complaints from various apartments at 2985 Webster Ave., as of press time. Complaints include the existence of bedbugs, mold, and no heat or hot water. At 2987 Webster Ave., 59 complaints have been logged, including broken locks, sporadic power outages, and the existence of mold. The property at 2999 Webster Ave. saw the fewest number of complaints, with 16.

Disruptive Neighbors
Meantime, tenants have pointed to the number of disruptive tenants, many believed to be “warehoused” by supportive service nonprofits that do little in the way of servicing their clients.

An initial visit by the Norwood News showed that at least one transitional service nonprofit provider named Pibly had a client in the property. Pibly is contracted by the state Department of Health and Mental Health (DOHMH) to scout for livable apartments on behalf of clients. Should the client be considered disruptive, the transitional service provider will find another suitable home for them while increasing the number of visits.

“The problem is you know you think that everyone is going to have a lease directly with the company but they don’t,” Thomas Hurless, a resident of 2987 Webster Ave., said. “They have leases with these organizations… that’s the problem.”

James Plastiras, a spokesman for DOHMH, told the Norwood News that state law bars the agency from disclosing whether mentally ill clients are housed at the properties.

The agency was vague on what types of supportive services are required for tenants living in regular apartment buildings, how many tenants are referred there, and how much in rent subsidies it offers nonprofits to cover client rent costs.

City Councilman Andrew Cohen, whose council district covers the buildings in question, has been in touch with both Stagg and concerned tenants.

“I told Mark that I’d be happy to try to make sure that if there are people in need of services that we’d hook them up,” Cohen said. “And I made it clear to the tenants that if they have issues and they need legal representation, legal services, I’m happy to help with that too.”

On Jan. 15, Cohen walked through one of the buildings with Stagg. After the walkthrough, the Councilman felt the building was “well maintained” and did not “get the impression there is systematic problems.” Instead, he believes, many of the building’s issues can be linked back to “one or two problem tenants.”

“The nature of the landlord-tenant relationship is often adversarial,” Cohen said. “I’m just not convinced that this is a quote unquote bad building and that it’s a building wide problem.”

Need for a Super
Despite the large number of units per building, where general upkeep is needed, there is no live-in super on each of the properties. City law requires a super who lives in the building or a maximum 200 feet from the property to be available to provide cleaning services. Stagg, in 2017, had skirted the law, forcing the city Housing Preservation and Development agency to step in and issue a violation to the Stagg Group, which then complied with the law by hiring an offsite super.

But compliance is one thing. The quality of its upkeep is a different matter for Simpson, who conceded that the building does have roving custodians, only they do little when it comes to proper maintenance.

If work is shoddy, the best one can do is take it up the management chain, according to HPD spokesman Matthew Creegan. “If a tenant is concerned about conditions in their building, they should first inform their landlord to address the issue. If that doesn’t work, tenants should call 311 so HPD’s enforcement team can schedule an inspection,” said Creegan.

Simpson and other residents have begun to circulate petitions throughout the three buildings, demanding a full-time super. Stagg argued the current arrangement is working just fine. Currently, a super does not live onsite, but is around the buildings from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on-call at all hours.

Security Concerns
During the Norwood News’ initial investigation into the properties last October, several security cameras appeared to be missing, leaving holes in the ceilings of the hallways with loose wires. At the time, tenants expressed concern because of their experience with squatters and drug users who made themselves comfortable in the buildings’ basements.

Since then, the Stagg Group appears to have replaced most of the missing cameras. Property manager Javier Monroy showed the Norwood News an app on his phone connected to the buildings’ many cameras. Still, residents have concerns.

On Nov. 27, Frank Giger, a 31-year-old U.S. Army sergeant and Iraq War veteran, was found dead on the pavement outside the buildings. It appeared, according to eyewitness accounts and photos obtained by the Norwood News, Giger fell from the roof of the building. According to a police representative at a Jan 2. Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA) meeting, the NYPD has not ruled it a homicide. But the tragedy sparked renewed interest in the buildings’ security.

“We don’t have no proper surveillance in the building,” Simpson said at the Jan. 2 BMCA meeting. “How the hell are we living in this building… and we can’t feel safe.”

Editor’s Note: An earlier draft and print version of this article misstated the year the buildings opened. It was 2015, not 2016. 

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.