NYC Luxury Building Installs "Poor Fences" to Separate Middle-Income Residents From Wealthy Residents

By Kate Briquelet, New York Post

12 December 14

irst there was the Poor Door. Now there’s the Poor Porch.

A Queens luxury tower that was bailed out by the city is blocking the large terraces of a few affordable units so tenants above with tiny balconies don’t get jealous, one resident claims.

Erin McFadzen chose her middle-income — and rent-stabilized — corner apartment at Long Island City’s new Q41 building because of its wrap-around terrace.

But when she moved in, half of it was fenced off by what she calls a “Jurassic Park”-style barricade.

The ugly, 6-foot-high wire barrier also interferes with views from every window of her sixth-floor, $2,186-a-month pad.

“We’re caged in,” McFadzen told The Post.

“Every time someone comes over, I have to explain why the fence is there . . . and tell them we’re rent-stabilized, like it’s a badge I have to wear,” she said.

McFadzen’s boyfriend, Erik Clancy, who also lives in the two-bedroom pad, is outraged, too.

“I can’t imagine them saying [to market-rate tenants], ‘You get this beautiful view of Manhattan behind a giant metal fence,’ ” he said.

Meanwhile, a market-rate, 16th-floor apartment with a large terrace that goes for $3,692 a month has no wire barricade.

The couple was assured multiple times by the building that they would have use of the entire balcony. In March, when they looked at the pad, there was no fence. On moving day in July, there was.

Queensboro Development, Q41’s developer, claimed the barrier is necessary to set up a staging area for window washers. Asked why the space couldn’t be used on days windows were being washed, officials said it wasn’t feasible.

Q41’s former super, Gjon Chota, told the couple “the fence is there to stay” because of other residents with smaller balconies.

“If you feel that somehow you have a special privilege from the rest of tenants to use all of the terrace, please provide me with the copy of your lease or lease rider that states that,” Chota wrote in an email.

The landlord’s attorney also sent a letter forbidding them from straying across the wire.

“It has come to our clients’ attention that you are exceeding your area of usage,” attorney William Slochowsky wrote on Oct. 28 — days after Q41 held a ribbon-cutting attended by Comptroller Scott Stringer, Rep. Carolyn Maloney and others.

The terrace is part of the building’s sixth-floor pedestal, with wooden dividers providing about eight units with private decks.

Most of the eight spaces are hemmed in by the wires.

Some have fared worse than McFadzen. One neighbor’s terrace is almost unusable, with the wire fence just a few feet from the door.

The balconies on floors above are typical and much smaller — about 10 by 6 feet with glass rails.

Queensboro did not return messages seeking comment.

Once a stalled condo project, the 17-story building was revived by the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Housing Asset Renewal Program. The city doled out $7.6 million in subsidies and, with Bank of America, provided $28 million in low-interest construction loans to Queensboro.

All but eight of the 117 units in the 41st Avenue tower are “affordable” middle-income pads, with $1,103-a-month studios and two-bedrooms costing as much as $2,186 a month.

The fenced terraces have drawn comparisons to “Poor Doors,” separate entrances for low-income tenants living in luxury buildings.