Naftali's Rental Building Unable to Fix Water Leak Problems Due to Uncooperative Co-op Neighbor

Naftali's Landmark Park Slope is having water leak problems. However, the neighboring co-op will not allow the developer to make repairs to the rental building's foundation.

Persistent water leaks beneath the 104-unit have caused expensive damages and Naftali Group's luxury rental building at 267 Sixth St has been on the losing end. They cannot fix the gaps in the broken foundation because their neigbhor, a 35-unit co-op does not want to allow the workers to enter and make critical fixes.

The co-op's property manager stopped the construction activities the following day, after the court initially provided the permission to enter 270 Fifth Street to do the repairs in December.

The watery standoff started when Naftali did not agree to all of 270 Fifth's stipulations on making repairs. The developer has asked a judge to provide a temporary injunction that would allow the workers to enter the basement of the building to do the repairs. 

"A significant quantity of water has already leaked into the building, causing damage to an apartment and the building's below-grade areas," Naftali's lawyers said in the filing, as reported by DNAinfo.

Naftali purchased 267 Sixth St. as then stalled construction site for $10.7 million in 2012. It was fully finished after a year with Karl Fischer designing the building.

The water leak was discovered by the owners in the spring of 2015. "Building envelope consultants" did an investigation and found that parts of the foundation were not properly waterproofed, according to the court documents.

Although the owners initially tried to fix the problem from inside the building, their idea did not work. The contractors need to access the edge of a parking lot at 270 Fifth Street to fix the problem. The parking lot borders 267 Sixth Street and Naftali was granted access to the area during the construction of Park Slope, under an agreement signed in 2012. That deal also allowed the developer access to make any future repairs.

The 270 Fifth St.'s representative declined to comment.