Upper East Side building receives most cooling-tower violations amid Legionella outbreak

New York City health officials have issued 110 violations to owners of Upper East Side buildings for failing to meet mandatory cooling-tower maintenance and Legionella testing requirements. Of the 82 towers that tested positive for the bacteria, 1520 York Avenue, located at the corner of East 80th Street, received the most citations, totaling nine violations and a $9,000 fine for missing the city-mandated 31-day testing schedule and lacking a required maintenance plan.

The violations are classified as public-health hazards. The tower’s current operator told NBC New York that it recently assumed responsibility and is hiring multiple firms to test, clean, and install new safety technology. The operator also said the former property managers were partly responsible for earlier lapses, though the management company did not respond to a request for comment.

Overall, 60% of the positive-testing towers were found to have issues, and 15 buildings received at least one public-health-hazard citation. Fifty additional violations were deemed critical for failures such as not reporting test results, while other citations involved delayed reporting. Owners face fines of $2,000 per month for non-reporting and may appeal at a city OATH hearing.

The Health Department has tested more than 180 cooling towers in the area, all of which have been cleaned and disinfected. As of Wednesday, 92 people had been infected in the Upper East Side cluster, with six remaining hospitalized. No new cases have been reported since mid-July, and officials expect final DNA results in August to identify the source of the outbreak.