135 West 116th Street, Manhattan

A Harlem walk-up where commercial business friction and unaddressed safety repairs are front and center.

Acquired for $4.2M, this building sits over busy retail space on West 116th Street. While living above retail is common for Harlem, renters face a mix of unaddressed building maintenance and operations running out of residential units. Three things to know:

The building carries seven open violations, including basic safety alerts. Filings from July 2026 show unresolved issues with ceiling and wall plaster, faulty electrical wiring, and missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. While a broken refrigerator complaint from the same week was quickly closed, these safety-critical items remain open on the record.

Commercial operations running inside residential apartments have caused ongoing disruptions. The residential files carry 38 commercial noise complaints, with recent open cases from July 2026 documenting illegal commercial conversions and unlicensed beauty salon activity on the floors above the ground-floor retail.

Venting and air-quality issues are a frequent neighborhood complaint. Sixteen complaints about indoor air quality have been filed on the surrounding blocks in the last year, with the most recent logged on July 20, 2026. In an over-the-store building, odors and food fumes can easily travel through shared risers and walls if venting is poorly maintained.

Quieter signals on this building and the blocks around it:

• 746 street-level noise complaints within three blocks last year, dominated by loud music and outdoor street parties
• 183 illegal parking complaints nearby, including 92 double-parked cars blocking traffic
• Six heat and hot water complaints logged against the building, most recently on January 9, 2025
• The block is a busy commercial stretch of West 116th Street, bringing significant street noise right up to the building.

135 West 116th Street is a 9-unit building in Manhattan, New York City (BBL 1019010015). This building is associated with 135 West 116th Owner, LLC. Brix tracks 7 open HPD violations for this property, along with inspection history, DOB filings, tenant complaints, and rent stabilization status.

Built in 1920, this walk-up apartment building sits in Manhattan and is tracked by Brix using public NYC records from HPD, DOB, ACRIS, and 311.

Tenants have filed 111 HPD complaints about this building over the last five years, most often about heat/hot water.

What tenants have called the city about here over the last five years:

• Heat/hot Water: 72 complaints
• Unsanitary Condition: 13 complaints
• Water Leak: 13 complaints
• Paint/plaster: 5 complaints

The most recent complaint on this building was filed July 6, 2026.

Conditions cited on open violations at this address:

• § 27-2017
• § 27-2005 ADM CODE REPAIR THE BROKEN OR DEFECTIVE PLASTERED SURFACES AND PAINT IN A UNIFORM COLOR AT CEILING IN THE 1st BATHROOM FROM NORTH LOCATED AT APT 2B, 2
• § 27-2026, 2027 HMC: PROPERLY REPAIR THE SOURCE AND ABATE THE EVIDENCE OF A WATER LEAK AT SOUTH WALL IN THE 1st BATHROOM FROM NORTH LOCATED AT APT 2B, 2nd STORY
• § 27-2005 ADM CODE REPAIR THE BROKEN OR DEFECTIVE PLASTERED SURFACES AND PAINT IN A UNIFORM COLOR AT CEILING IN THE FOYER LOCATED AT APT 4B, 4th STORY, 1st APAR

The building last changed hands on December 10, 2018 for $4,200,000, according to recorded deeds.

Brix rating: Concerning (16/100). View the Building Report on Brix.

See every NYC building owned by 135 West 116th Owner, LLC on the landlord portfolio page.