Questions remain about the safety of the Turkish-owned 36-story Manhattan high-rise that has become a focal point in the federal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Prosecutors allege Adams pressured FDNY officials to overlook their concerns about the building’s fire safety systems after he received more than $100,000 in undisclosed flights, hotel rooms and other gifts from Turkish officials, along with tens of thousands of dollars in illegal foreign campaign contributions. Adams has fiercely denied the accusations.
When the skyscraper was completed in August 2021, fire department officials had still not signed off on its fire safety system. In an email included in the indictment federal prosecutors handed down against Adams on Thursday, an unnamed FDNY inspector flagged more than 60 defects and said “this building is not safe to occupy.”
But Adams intervened on behalf of his Turkish benefactors so that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could attend an opening ceremony for the building that had been scheduled for September 2021, according to prosecutors. They allege that FDNY officials believed they would lose their jobs if they didn’t comply.
“Even today it is unclear whether the safety system was completely installed,” said attorney Jim Walden, who represents multiple former high-ranking fire officials.
His clients include Joseph Jardin, who served as the FDNY’s chief of fire prevention and who wrote the “conditional letter of no objection” that allowed the building to open. Jardin later told prosecutors that doing so was an “unprecedented” departure from standard procedure in light of the outstanding safety violations.
Documents submitted shortly before the building’s opening list a litany of problems, including with parts of the sprinkler system and safety devices that prevent smoke from spreading through elevator shafts.
A copy of an FDNY email included in the indictment against Mayor Adams showed that a fire inspector did not believe the building was safe to occupy.
FDNY spokesperson Amanda Farinacci said the building’s fire alarm system was finally approved in March 2023, nearly 18 months after opening, and that the building is now staffed with fire safety directors.
Local lawmakers, though, raised continuing concerns about the building’s safety following Adams’ indictment.
Councilmember Pierina Sanchez, who chairs the City Council’s housing and buildings committee, called on the Department of Buildings to “conduct a thorough re-inspection of the property for the safety of those who occupy it.”
“The allegations of prioritizing foreign actors for political favors are damning, but the fact that this prioritization led to inadequate inspections, leaving the building unsafe, is even worse,” said Sanchez.
State Sen. Liz Krueger and state Assemblymember Harvey Epstein have echoed those concerns.
“It is 36 stories tall and people’s lives may be at risk,” Krueger wrote on X.
Department of Buildings records show the Turkish House consulate building, located across from the United Nations headquarters in Midtown, still lacks a certificate of occupancy three years after opening. An agency spokesperson referred safety questions to the fire department.
‘They have some major issues’
Despite the problems flagged by fire officials, the Turkish House opened in time for Erdogan’s arrival during U.N. General Assembly events in September 2021, when Adams was still Brooklyn borough president and a mayoral candidate. The Turkish president, who is considered an authoritarian ruler for restructuring the government to preserve power, hailed the tower as a “permanent work of art.”
“We are proud because we are adding to the silhouette of New York, with a sterling example of our historical and traditional architecture,” he said at an opening ceremony.
Federal prosecutors with the Southern District of New York allege that the building’s opening was marred by corruption and that Adams pressured FDNY officials to approve the project after receiving a slew of gifts from officials and businesspeople with ties to the Turkish government.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams visits the Turkish Consulate General in Manhattan on May 22, 2023.
Michael Appleton / Mayoral Photography Office
Adams has defiantly rejected the accusations in the indictment.
“Everyone who knows me knows I follow campaign rules and I follow the law,” he said at a press conference on Thursday outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s official residence.
The indictment portrays a quid pro quo where Adams allegedly leaned on the FDNY to rubber-stamp the insufficient building safety systems to repay Turkish nationals for luxury trips he received.
The documents include an email to then-Fire Prevention Bureau Chief Jardin from an unnamed FDNY official, dated Sept. 9, 2021 — just 11 days before the opening ceremony. The email advised that defects in the new building’s fire safety system would make it impossible to approve.
“I do not see any way we would be willing to accept it,” the FDNY official wrote. “They have some major issues like central station and fan shutdowns which would be an automatic violation order.”
Without FDNY approval, the city’s Department of Buildings refused to issue a temporary certificate of occupancy to allow the building to open.
The Sept. 2021 “conditional letter of no objection” issued by then FDNY Chief of Fire Prevention Joseph Jardin for Turkish House. According to federal prosecutors, Jardin later called the letter “unprecedented” and that it was not standard procedure.
On Aug. 31, 2021, Jardin initially refused to provide Turkish officials with the necessary paperwork, according to the indictment.
Within days, prosecutors said, a Turkish official began asking Adams for assistance, saying it was “his turn” to support Turkey. In addition to lavish gifts, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said illegal campaign cash from Turkish nationals and other uncertified contributions allowed the Adams campaign to apply for and receive $10 million in taxpayer dollars under New York City’s public matching funds program.
The indictment details a series of back-and-forth messages between Adams and then-FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro in the days that followed.
Prosecutors suggest Nigro was primed to do Adams’ bidding. A month earlier, the veteran firefighter had messaged Adams asking to stay on as commissioner and pledging to remain “loyal and trustworthy” to his likely future boss, according to the indictment. Adams had won the Democratic primary for mayor and was favored to win the general election.
“We will get on it tomorrow,” Nigro responded to Adams’ request for help in approving the building for occupancy, the indictment states.
Adams, in turn, was relaying Nigro’s responses back to one of his staffers and onto the Turkish official, prosecutors said.
On Sept. 10, 2021, documents show, Jardin drafted a “conditional letter of no objection” — a document he later called “unprecedented,” according to the indictment, and that ultimately allowed the Turkish consulate building to open in time for Erdogan’s visit.
Prosecutors allege the FDNY’s chief of department told Jardin they would both lose their jobs if they didn’t sign off on the building.
Reached on Tuesday, Nigro told Gothamist he had not been contacted by federal authorities in months and knew nothing of the upcoming indictment. He didn’t return requests for comment on Thursday.
“You are Great Eric, we are so happy to hear that,” the Turkish official texted Adams in response to his assistance, the indictment said. “You are a true friend of Turkey.”
Four days later, the same official helped Adams secure cut-rate business-class seat on flights to Pakistan, before Adams asked to switch the flights to Ghana by way of Istanbul, prosecutors said
During a nine-hour layover, the official also arranged car service, fine dining and a boat tour of the Bosporus Strait for Adams and his partner, the indictment states. Prosecutors said the future mayor saved more than $14,000 on the luxury travel.
