UDR, Inc. owns apartments at 808, 795, 775, 801, and 805 Columbus Avenue. The complaint for this class action brings suit against UDR and the individual apartment buildings, alleging that the apartments are advertised as having “daylong access” to a swimming pool at 808 Columbus. However, the complaint alleges, “residents are in fact deprived of such access because the pool is rented out to non-residents for a substantial part of the day—and during hours when many residents, and most child residents, could most readily avail themselves of the pool.”
The class for this action is all persons with Columbus Square leases between January 19, 2016 and the present.
The Columbus Avenue properties are five luxury buildings in Manhattan’s Upper West Side near 100th Street. The ads emphasize luxury features, including “stunning” views, a rooftop lounge, concierge and valet services, as well as a “70 ft. heated lap pool…”
The rent is substantial—starting with studios for nearly $3,962 a month, up to four bedrooms. The complaint reproduces three images of the three-lane pool from the website. The UDR website gives the pool hours, the complaint alleges, as from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm on weekdays and 7:00 am to 8:00 pm on weekends. The complaint displays an image of the same hours on a sign on the door of the pool building.
However, the complaint also reproduces “another, small-print sign that residents can see only after they move in…” According to this sign, the pool is not open to residents between 10:00 am and 6 pm on weekdays or between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on weekends.
This sign has a “SwimJim” logo at the top. According to the complaint, SwimJim is a swim school that takes possession of the pool during those hours for its business of giving swimming lessons.
Before the pandemic, the complaint claims that one lane of the pool was always kept open for residents. Even then, however, residents could only use the one lane.
The SwimJim website, the complaint alleges, displays an image of the residents’ pool, showing that the pool is being used for SwimJim’s commercial operations.
The complaint contends, “Utilizing the pool for outside swimming lessons is a breach of [residents’] contracts with Defendants, as these contracts make no provision for the renting out of the pool to third parties at residents’ expense.”
Documents attached to the complaint as Exhibits A and B include leases for the apartments and a welcome package that give the longer hours for the pool, do not mention restricted access, and mention SwimJim only as the pool’s “operator,” not as a business entitled to exclude residents from the pool at certain hours.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Real Estate
Most Recent Case Event
Columbus Square Limited Resident Pool Access Complaint
January 19, 2022
UDR, Inc. owns apartments at 808, 795, 775, 801, and 805 Columbus Avenue. The complaint for this class action brings suit against UDR and the individual apartment buildings, alleging that the apartments are advertised as having “daylong access” to a swimming pool at 808 Columbus. However, the complaint alleges, “residents are in fact deprived of such access because the pool is rented out to non-residents for a substantial part of the day—and during hours when many residents, and most child residents, could most readily avail themselves of the pool.”
Columbus Square Limited Resident Pool Access ComplaintCase Event History
Columbus Square Limited Resident Pool Access Complaint
January 19, 2022
UDR, Inc. owns apartments at 808, 795, 775, 801, and 805 Columbus Avenue. The complaint for this class action brings suit against UDR and the individual apartment buildings, alleging that the apartments are advertised as having “daylong access” to a swimming pool at 808 Columbus. However, the complaint alleges, “residents are in fact deprived of such access because the pool is rented out to non-residents for a substantial part of the day—and during hours when many residents, and most child residents, could most readily avail themselves of the pool.”
Columbus Square Limited Resident Pool Access Complaint