Chinatown neighbors sue to stop late-night work on the new Manhattan jail, now running 6 a.m. to midnight

Residents of Chinatown, including seniors who live right next to the site, have sued New York City to stop late-night construction on the new Manhattan borough jail at White and Centre streets, the former site of the Manhattan Detention Complex known as the Tombs.

The Article 78 petition was filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, Curbed and the New York Post reported. Plaintiffs include documentarian Jon Alpert, residents Betty Lee and Ping Ai Mei, Jan Lee and his group Neighbors United Below Canal, and the nonprofit Welcome to Chinatown, according to Gothamist. The suit also names the contractor, Tutor Perini.

The new schedule

Construction and demolition at the site began in 2024 and had mostly stayed within normal hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., the suit says. Starting in early October, the city issued permits that allow:

• Weekdays: work from 6 a.m. to midnight.
• Saturdays: work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Deliveries: trucks from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m.

The city plans to keep renewing those permits until the jail is finished in 2032, Gothamist reported, citing the suit. The city told the Post that the loudest work, such as excavation, drilling and pouring concrete, runs from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, with the other hours used for prep work. The plaintiffs' announcement says the plan includes drilling from 6 to 10 p.m. on weekdays and has brought a flood of 311 noise complaints.

What the neighbors say

"The only time that I am now able to sleep with no noise or disruption is for the four hours from midnight to 4 a.m.," Alpert, 77, who lives on Lafayette Street, said in an affidavit quoted by Curbed. His media arts center, DCTV, says its evening recording sessions, classes and screenings can no longer work. Ping Ai Mei, 88, lives at the Chung Pak senior housing building next to the site and says demolition dust has already affected her health, Curbed reported.

"They're already going to miss the legal deadline by five years. That doesn't mean that Chinatown should have to suffer," Vic Lee of Welcome to Chinatown told Curbed. Council Member Christopher Marte, who represents the area and co-founded Neighbors United Below Canal, told the Post that City Hall has "abandoned" Chinatown.

The legal argument

The suit says the jail's environmental review assumed construction during regular weekday hours over about four years, with only occasional night or weekend work, and concluded noise would not be a significant problem. It argues the city broke state environmental review law by not studying the new schedule and asks a judge to block after-hours work "except as needed on an occasional temporary basis," Gothamist reported.

What the city says

City officials have said that without the extra hours, the jail would open in 2034 instead of 2032 and cost $340 million more, according to the suit; Curbed put the jail's estimated price at $3.9 billion. Mayoral spokesperson Sam Raskin said the administration will respond in court and is committed to closing the jails on Rikers Island. The city also pointed to dust, noise and vibration monitors, mufflers and sound blankets at the site.

The 1,040-bed tower is one of four borough jails meant to replace Rikers. A 2021 local law set a 2027 closing date for Rikers, which the city has said it cannot meet, and the Manhattan jail is expected to be the last of the four to open.