Greenpoint luxury tower ran on a roaring generator for a month after an electrical fire

For more than a month after a Sept. 6 electrical fire, a loud generator powered The Greenpoint, the 40-story rental tower at 21 India Street, Gothamist reported Monday — a disruption that tenants say exposed deeper problems in a building marketed as luxury housing.

Fire, then a month on generator power

According to Gothamist, a fire in an eighth-floor electrical closet prompted management to disconnect the complex from the city's power grid. An FDNY spokesperson told Gothamist firefighters put out the blaze a little more than an hour after an emergency call around 8 p.m. Building manager Rose Associates told Gothamist an "electrical malfunction" in a riser affected some mechanical systems and that "emergency generator power supported these mechanical systems for several weeks" until the building returned to grid power. The generator was shut off late on Oct. 7, the paper reported.

Residents described the machine as sounding like a jet engine or a helicopter landing, especially on lower floors, Gothamist wrote. One 25th-floor tenant who helps lead a new tenant association said she pays $5,800 a month for a one-bedroom; other rents in the building reach about $12,000 a month, according to Gothamist.

What city records show

NYC Open Data 311 records for 21 India Street since Sept. 6 include dozens of noise complaints coded as air-conditioner/ventilation or manufacturing business/plant noise — consistent with a continuous outdoor generator — plus complaints about dirty water, indoor air quality and electrical wiring. City property records list the building with 463 residential units.

Gothamist, citing city housing records, said residents filed 272 complaints for hot water and power outages over two years, including 191 since the fire, and that the Department of Housing Preservation and Development issued 38 violations against the building after the blaze. One tenant sued the owner, 19 India Fee Owner LLC, Gothamist reported. A spokesperson for management told Gothamist staff "worked with urgency to remove the building from generator power, which has successfully maintained all building services and functionality."

Tenant pushback

Neighbors formed a tenant association and a WhatsApp group; more than 110 signed demands that include a full life-safety inspection and clearer alerts, Gothamist reported. Tenants also said smoke alarms did not go off during the fire and that management did not explain the cause until the next day — claims Gothamist attributed to residents, with the building's email saying the blaze began in an electrical closet.

The Greenpoint opened around 2018. Gothamist noted that newer waterfront towers in Greenpoint have faced their own infrastructure complaints, and that a March review found elevated housing-code violation rates in many recently built 421-a buildings citywide.