US Sues Designers and Developers of Manhattan Apartment Complex for Fair

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United States Sues Designers and Developers of Manhattan Apartment

Complex for Fair Housing Act Violations

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WASHINGTON, Aug 13, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ --

J. , the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New

York, announced that the United States filed a civil rights lawsuit

in Manhattan federal court today against the developers and

architects of Avalon Chrystie Place, a 361-unit residential apartment

complex in Manhattan, for unlawfully discriminating against people

with disabilities by failing to design and construct Avalon Chrystie

Place to be accessible to people with disabilities. The Complaint

alleges that CVP I, LLC, Downtown Manhattan Residential LLC, Chrystie

Venture Partners, LLC, Avalon Bay Communities, Inc., and SLCE

Architects LLP violated the requirements of the Fair Housing Act in

the design and construction of the complex. This is the Government's

first lawsuit in Manhattan alleging violations of the Fair Housing

Act in the design and construction of multi-family housing. According

to the Complaint filed by the Government:

Avalon Chrystie Place, located at 229 Chrystie Place just below

Houston Street in Manhattan, has public and common areas which are

not readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities.

The complex also lacks accessible routes into and through dwellings,

reinforcements in bathroom walls to allow the installation of grab

bars, and kitchens and bathrooms usable by a person in a wheelchair.

The Complaint seeks a court order requiring the defendants to modify

Avalon Chrystie Place to bring the complex into compliance with the

Fair Housing Act and to enjoin defendants from designing or

constructing multi-family housing in the future that does not contain

the accessibility features required by federal law. It also seeks

monetary damages to compensate victims and a civil penalty to be paid

to the Government to vindicate the public interest.

" Housing must be available to all Americans without regard to

disability, " said Mr. . " We will continue to pursue those who

fail to design and construct accessible housing as required by

federal law. "

This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. Any

member of the public who has information relating to the lack of

accessibility in multi-family housing or any other form of illegal

housing discrimination within the Southern District of New York may

use the complaint form available on the United States Attorney's

Office's website, http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys. Complaints may also

be sent to the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of

New York, 86 Chambers Street, New York, N.Y., 10007, attention:

Chief, Civil Rights Unit.

Assistant United States Attorneys E. Light and M. Feldman

are in charge of the investigation.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice http://www.USDOJ.gov