Galvan, Hudson's Largest Landlord, At Their Best

A few weeks ago, I noticed ORDER TO VACATE/DANGEROUS AND UNSAFE BUILDING notices from our Code Enforcement Office (CEO) posted on two Galvan-owned apartments that face Long Alley.  Those 2 units are part of Galvan's 10 or 12-unit apartment complex known as 227-235 State Street.  Curious as to what was going on, I requested documents from CEO.

On January 29th of this year, according to the CEO Order To Remedy notice mailed to Galvan, Craig Haigh found unit 229A "to be without smoke or carbon monoxide detectors and egress was blocked by hoarding conditions."

Nearly two months later, on March 16th, following a HPD response to the apartment complex, Craig Haigh found the exact same conditions in nearby apartment 233A.  No detectors at all, with hoarding conditions blocking the doors.

Last week, I saw 2 workers in hazmat suits removing the belongings from at least one of those apartments and loading them into a trailer attached to a white pickup truck with the Galvan logo.  A few weeks prior to that, I saw 2 employees of an extermination company exiting the apartment complex.  They wouldn't tell me what they were there for.

One wonders if Craig Haigh and his workers have taken the time to inspect the other units at 227-235 State to check for detectors and unsafe conditions.  One also wonders if Galvan ever bothers to inspect their own units to make sure they have working detectors and aren't full of hoarded material.  You'd think they would want to prevent a fire that might destroy their entire complex, or prevent bugs from infesting the entire complex, instead of just reacting after the city stumbles upon unacceptable building and living conditions in two of its apartments within two months.   But that's Galvan, who plays by their own rules.

Dumpster not needed, just use the ground. 
 The vermin will thank you!

227-235 State Street was the location of the fatal dumpster accident in October.  Galvan soon got rid of the dumpster altogether, and for the past 5 months tenants have been placing their trash bags and loose trash on the ground where the dumpster used to be.  Apparently, sanitation is not high on Galvan's list of priorities for its tenants and the city as a whole. 

227-235 State Street was assessed last year for $750,000, all of which is tax exempt.  The County Assessor's website shows that this property's tax-exempt status is found under code RPTL 422.  According to NY State tax rules, this code is reserved for "not-for-profit housing companies."  However, the Hudson City School District's tax information shows that 227-235 State is exempt via code 28520, with a description of that code as NO PR NURS.  State tax laws show that code 28520 is reserved for NON-PROFIT NURSING HOMES.

Craig Haigh sent his OTR letters to Housing Resources Real Estate Holding Corp.  However, tax records show that 227-235 State has been owned by a different Galvan subsidiary named Galvan Asset Management, Inc. -- since the year 2000!  According to both County and City School tax records, Galvan's Housing Resources Real Estate Holding Corp. owns just one property, at 17 N. 3rd Street.

Housing Resources Real Estate has never owned
227-235 State Street.  CEO thinks they do.