Julliard graduate finds dream Manhattan penthouse, then faces mold and missing mail
In May 2025, Lydia Rhea, a 26-year-old freelance musician and Juilliard graduate, thought she and her two roommates had found their dream apartment.After years of living in cramped student quarters, the group found a newly constructed duplex penthouse at 463 West 125th Street in Harlem.For three working musicians who needed space to rehearse, the unit seemed ideal.It boasted a spacious multi-level layout, large windows, two bathrooms, and in-unit laundry.
Rhea even scored a second-floor bedroom featuring an ensuite bathroom and a private terrace.They signed a 13-month lease offering a one-month free concession, paying a net rent of $5,485 per month.As the very first tenants to occupy the newly built unit, Rhea expected a pristine, modern, hassle-free living experience.However, what was marketed as a modern luxury space quickly escalated into a year-long ordeal marked by apparent construction defects, toxic mold infestation, delayed mail delivery, and unresponsive building management, Rhea tells Realtor.com.“I feel a little bit stupid looking back on it,” Rhea says.
“It looked clean, and it had really good access to trains…it looked to be like it was going to be a really good space.”Public records show the building is owned by an LLC affiliated with ReGlobe founder Tomer Chen, a real estate developer who signed mortgage documents on behalf of the entity.The building was managed by Malek Management, according to emails from the company shared by Rhea.A person who answered the phone at Malek Management claimed that the company no longer handles the building.
Chen did not respond to multiple phone messages.Mold is a persistent issue for some New York renters.In Fiscal Year 2025, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) received 38,278 mold complaints, according to HPD’s indoor allergen report.
That’s a drop of about 8.5% from the prior year’s total of 41,835 mold complaints.In 2024, Harlem was ...