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Dive Brief:
- Last week, the Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against Toll Brothers and Toll Brothers Realty Trust, alleging that the Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, developer failed to design and build new apartment buildings with accessible features with physical disability. according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
- The suit also named other Toll affiliates and other entities that participated in the design or construction of these residential complexes, including a condominium association. FHA design and construction provisions require multifamily housing complexes built after January 1991 to have basic features accessible to people with disabilities.
- The DOJ also filed a proposed consent decree with Lendlease, which participated in the design and construction of one of the buildings. The Australian-based builder and developer agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty, establish procedures to ensure FHA compliance in future development projects, and institute policies and training to ensure its employees and agents meet the requirements of FHA affordability.
Diving knowledge:
Toll Brothers did not respond to Multifamily Dive’s request for comment. In the complaint, the DOJ alleged that the inaccessible conditions at Toll’s properties included:
- “Excessively high” thresholds at building entrances and entrances to common areas.
- Bathrooms for common use that do not have support bars.
- “Excessively high” thresholds at entrances to individual apartments and within apartments.
- Bathrooms in individual apartments that do not have sufficient free space for people who use wheelchairs.
The DOJ seeks to order Toll Brothers to retrofit individual apartments and common areas of the buildings to be accessible. It also wants the builder to adopt policies and procedures to ensure FHA compliance in future construction and to compensate people who suffered discrimination because of the inaccessibility conditions.
The complaint listed inaccessible conditions at the following five properties:
- The Sutton at 959 First Avenue in New York City.
- 49 North 8th Street in Brooklyn, New York. Two tolling entities, GreenbergFarrow Architects and North8 Condominium Association were also named as defendants in this property. According to the DOJ, the association was named as a defendant because its cooperation was essential to make improvements to the property.
- 3000 Goldfinch Boulevard in Princeton, New Jersey. Tolling entity TB Princeton Village LLC is named as the developer of the property, which is called Park at Princeton Junction.
- 134 Plymouth Road in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Tolling entity TB-BDN Plymouth Apartments is listed as the developer of the property, which is known as Plymouth Meeting Park.
- 10 Provost Street in Jersey City, New Jersey.
In addition, the DOJ says there were inaccessible conditions at nine other properties spanning from Massachusetts to Virginia.
Toll Brothers’ filing is the 19th time the Southern District of New York has sued developers for allegedly violating fair housing law. Other builders sued by the bureau include The Durst Organization, Glenwood Management, Silverstein Properties, Related Cos. and Atlantic Development, according to the Southern District of New York press release.
“We appreciate Lendlease’s cooperation in taking responsibility for its actions to make more properties more accessible to more people,” Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement announcing the demand “This office will remain vigilant to ensure that developers and architects comply with the FHA and address unaffordable housing in this district.”
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