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Inside the luxury Greenpoint high-rise powered by a rumbling generator for over a month
By
David Brand
Published Oct 12, 2026
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David Brand
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David Brand
Published Oct 12, 2026
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The roaring generator on India Street in Greenpoint sounded like a jet engine, even from an apartment hundreds of feet above the neighborhood.
For more than a month, the machinery powered an entire 40-story building known as The Greenpoint after a Sept. 6 electrical fire forced management to disconnect the complex from the power grid.
The constant drone disturbed Carola Fuchser, a tech sales manager who lives on the 25th floor. But she said she was lucky compared to tenants on lower floors.
“It literally feels like a helicopter is landing on top of their apartment 24/7,” she said over the din from her balcony.
Building manager Rose Associates finally reconnected the electrical system and shut off the generator late in the day on Oct. 7, just over a month after the building lost power. But residents say the fire, and the company's response, sparked anger and exposed deeper problems in what is marketed as a high-end residence completed eight years ago.
Fuchser, one of the leaders of a new building tenant association, cited a lack of safety alerts, routine hot water outages and insufficient communication from management about what is happening in the building.
“ I think we all understand that sometimes incidents like a fire can happen, and there can certainly be significant impact to building infrastructure,” she said. “But for the amount that me and many other residents are paying here … the basic building infrastructure seems to be lacking.”
Fuchser pays $5,800 a month for her one-bedroom perch, which boasts sweeping views of Manhattan across the river, Long Island City to the north and miles east into Brooklyn. Rents for other apartment in the building reach $12,000-a-month and some condos have been listed for nearly $3 million.
The high prices haven’t bought peace of mind.
A fire in an eighth-floor electrical closet prompted building management to disconnect from the city’s power grid.
David Brand
Residents have filed 272 complaints for frequent hot water and power outages in the 463-unit complex over the past two years, including 191 since the Sept. 6 fire. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development has issued 38 violations against the building since the blaze. And one tenant, who has helped organize dozens of neighbors, sued the building owner, 19 India Fee Owner LLC, in housing court last week.
Building management referred questions to spokesperson Richard Shea, who said staff “worked with urgency to remove the building from generator power, which has successfully maintained all building services and functionality.”
Shea said an “electrical malfunction” in a building riser affected some of the mechanical systems, but that management followed all city rules to restore power.
“Emergency generator power supported these mechanical systems for several weeks as repairs were completed to facilitate the building's transition back to grid power,” he said. “This transition is now complete and the generator has been turned off.”
Sculptures by the artist Kaws stand near the entrance to The Greenpoint.
David Brand
The Greenpoint is just one of a dozen high-rises that have come to dominate the neighborhood's waterfront in recent years. The building features sweeping views of Manhattan across the East River and an array of amenities, including a basketball court, pool hall and Peloton bikes. Two sculptures by the artist Kaws stand outside the riverside entrance.
But many of the new complexes have also faced their share of problems, including flooding and brown, murky water flowing from the taps.
A March analysis by Gothamist found that around 10% of roughly 1,600 residential buildings that opened since 2016 had at least one housing code violation per apartment – higher than the citywide rate of 0.8 violations per unit. The review covered buildings that had received a property tax break through the state’s 421a abatement program.
Ingrid Manevitz, a real estate attorney who handles construction defect litigation, said problems in so-called luxury buildings touch a nerve with residents.
“People feel very ripped off if you’ve paid top dollar for your apartment,” Manevitz said. “Even the very, very high-end apartments have issues.”
The Greenpoint was constructed in 2018 through a partnership with Mack Real Estate, Palin Enterprises and Urban Development Partners. In 2019, the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System purchased a 50% stake in the building’s rental operation, The Real Deal reported at the time.
The September fire galvanized tenants.
Fuchser said she first realized there was a problem when she saw dozens of fire trucks parked on the surrounding streets, then watched firefighters head for her building. A friend with the Citizen app received an alert saying the fire had started on the eighth floor. Fuchser said she decided to flee down the stairs.
“It got pretty scary when on the 15th floor, we started running into smoke in the stairwell,” she said.
She said smoke alarms never activated, and that building management did not notify residents about the cause of the fire until the next day. An email reviewed by Gothamist explained that the small blaze began in an electrical closet. An FDNY spokesperson said firefighters extinguished the fire just over an hour after receiving an emergency call around 8 p.m.
Luxury building, tenant organizers
Housing code violations are far more common in cheaper, older buildings, and low-income renters have been far more likely to form tenant organizations in the past. But residents of The Greenpoint are now one of many groups who have started to mobilize in posh residential buildings.
Shannon McMahon, 32, worked with Fuchser and a committee of other ticked-off neighbors to form a tenant association. They created a WhatsApp group where hundreds of residents discuss the problems they face. Earlier this month, more than 110 signed a list of demands and questions for management, including a “full building inspection of all life safety systems” like fire alarms, and more detailed information about repairs.
“Things like hot water and clean water and heat, basic safety and power,” McMahon said. “We're not asking for a new air hockey table. We're asking to be safe in our building.”
Shannon McMahon (left) and Carola Fuchser have organized residents of The Greenpoint in the wake of an electrical fire last month.
David Brand
Building management responded with an unsigned “FAQ” related to a scheduled electrical shutdown on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6.
“Following the electrical incident, management has also been conducting additional reviews with our fire and life-safety professionals,” they wrote. “Any corrective actions identified through those reviews will be addressed.”
McMahon said the response wasn’t enough.
She filed a legal complaint in Brooklyn housing court, known as an HP case, on Oct. 7 that she said she hopes will force city housing inspectors to conduct a building-wide review.
McMahon moved into a studio apartment at the Greenpoint in April 2021 after scoring a deal during the pandemic, and now pays about $3,000 a month – a decent price in the neighborhood.
She said she wants to stay in a place she felt proud to secure after growing up with modest means.
“ I didn't ever think that I could live in a luxury building,” McMahon said. “I worked my butt off.”
And anyway, she said, tenants like her can’t just pick up and move when they have problems with their building. There are too few options.
“I’ve been on StreetEasy. I'm not finding anything that's the same price,” she said. ”And I love Greenpoint so much.”
Tagged
brooklyn
housing
new york city
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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