The Turkish Consulate in the Upper East Side that’s at the center of Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment has been open for months without any city approval, according to a shocking new audit.
The 35-story building on First Avenue was denied a new temporary certificate of occupancy by the Department of Buildings on Sept. 26 and has been operating without valid inspections since October, according to city documents.
The building has been mired in controversy as federal prosecutors in Manhattan allege Adams had cut through bureaucratic red tape to fast-track its opening at the urging of Turkish officials, who in exchange showered Adams with free and heavily discounted luxury travel.
The startling revelation emerged Wednesday in an investigation by the city’s Comptroller’s Office into how DOB approves the opening of buildings across the Big Apple.
“By rushing to allow the opening of Turkish House in advance of a ribbon-cutting ceremony with President Erdoğan, DOB and FDNY cut serious corners that could have compromised the safety of the occupants and neighbors of the building,” Comptroller Brad Lander said.
Adams, at the time the Brooklyn Borough President and Democratic nominee for mayor, is accused of leaning on then-Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro to green-light the consulate despite objections from the FDNY, which ruled the fire plan was lacking.
Fire officials later changed their tune and paved the way for the consulate to welcome the foreign dignitaries just days before the planned grand opening, the audit says.
Adams has denied any wrongdoing and will stand trial in April.
Not one floor inside the Turkish house has been approved for occupancy despite DOB issuing 13 prior temporary approvals since its ribbon cutting in 2021, city records show.
It was also the only building of a similar size allowed to open its doors without a fire plan, which hadn’t been approved until this past September, three years after opening, according to the 34-page audit.
City records show the building has open violations for the elevator testing and its glass facade.
DOB told the Comptroller’s Office that “[l]apses of time between TCOs do occasionally occur,” and does not warrant a vacate order.
Lander said the review, though, also uncovered the widespread use of temporary certificates of occupancy with 637 office buildings — nearly 200 similar to the Turkish house with 20 or more stories — currently without a valid final or even any stopgap approval.
On average, those buildings have been without city approval for three and a half years. Some failed to nab a temporary certificate for nearly 12 years.
Of those, 88 buildings have “immediate hazardous violations,” the majority of which were due to dangerous facade conditions, the audit says.
The city has issued 236 violations to those 88 buildings.
Overall, the audit found more than 5,200 open violations of varying severity.
“The safety of New Yorkers must not be compromised either by special favors or by bureaucratic delay,” Lander said.
Reps for the Turkish consulate and FDNY did not return calls for comment.
“We treat the safety of our fellow New Yorkers as a top priority, and if any member of the public has safety concerns about a building, they are strongly encouraged to file an official 311 complaint so that we can investigate the issue,” a DOB spokesperson said.
