The operators of a luxury hotel in lower Manhattan wanted to remodel their lobby, but the city’s Department of Buildings stood in the way, voicing concern that the building’s existing certificate didn’t allow for the proposed renovations.
Enter Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Mayor Eric Adams’ recently resigned — and now indicted — chief adviser.
According to her bribery indictment unsealed Thursday, Lewis-Martin pressed then-Buildings Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik between late 2022 and early 2023 to approve the stalled renovation permit for the four-star Hotel on Rivington on the Lower East Side.
Her pressure on Vilenchik, the indictment says, was part of a years-long scheme, in which Lewis-Martin harnessed her government influence to help the hotel’s investors, Raizada “Pinky” Vaid and Mayank Dwivedi, secure DOB permits in exchange for bribes for her and her adult son, Glenn Martin II. Lewis-Martin, her son and the two businessmen pleaded not guilty to bribery, money laundering and conspiracy charges Thursday.
The indictment didn’t address the outcome of Lewis-Martin’s conversations with Vilenchik.
But agency records reviewed by the Daily News show the Department of Buildings kicked into action after Lewis-Martin put word in with Vilenchik on the Hotel on Rivington renovations.
On Feb. 24, 2023 — just over a month after Lewis-Martin asked Vilenchik in a text to “please look into this” — the Buildings Department approved the permit Vaid and Dwivedi had sought to make renovations to the hotel’s lobby.
That sign-off came after the department had initially blocked the project out of concern it wouldn’t be permissible unless Vaid and Dwivedi got a new property certificate, as the renovations involved modifying the hotel’s second floor, where occupancy wasn’t allowed under original permits.
The thumbs up also came just three days after DOB inspectors hit the hotel’s operators with a $25,300 fine for a “hazardous” defect related to its facade. According to Buildings Department records, the facade violation is still “active” and the fine hasn’t been paid.
In total, Hotel on Rivington, where single rooms cost more than $300 per night, currently has $59,800 in outstanding penalties for boiler, elevator and facade issues, records show. Most of those penalties have been imposed since the DOB green lit the February 2023 permit for the lobby renovations.
Buildings Department spokesman Andrew Rudansky didn’t say Friday what made his agency change its mind on clearing the lobby renovation permit, citing “ongoing audits” launched in response to Lewis-Martin’s indictment. He did say “an open violation at a property does not mean that DOB will not let owners fix up other parts of their building.”
Lawyers for Lewis-Martin, Vaid and Dwivedi didn’t return requests for comment Friday. Outside of court Thursday, Arthur Aidala, Lewis-Martin’s lawyer, called the charges against her “ridiculous” and said any interactions with Vaid and Dwivedi were “totally legitimate.”
Before the Hotel on Rivington case, Lewis-Martin also helped Vaid and Dwivedi with expediting a construction permit for Glass Ceiling, a rooftop bar in Midtown they hold interest in, according to prosecutors.
On Friday, Rudansky said the Department of Buildings is continuing to survey both properties, but told The News inspectors have already found multiple issues with the Glass Ceiling.
“The Temporary Certificate of Occupancy of the building has been allowed to expire by the property owners, there is no current Place of Assembly Certificate of Operations for the roof-top restaurant which is arranged to accommodate more than 74 people, and obstructions were found in the exit staircases,” Rudansky said of Glass Ceiling.
He said the issues at Glass Ceiling don’t appear correlated with allegations contained in the indictment. He had no immediate update on safety inspections at Hotel on Rivington.
Lewis-Martin is one of Adams’ most trusted confidantes and had worked for him for nearly two decades prior to her resignation. After she abruptly stepped down last Sunday shortly before news broke she was about to be indicted, Adams called her his “sister,” said he loves “her so much” and added: “I just really ask God to give her strength in the days to come.”
Adams is himself under indictment in a separate federal case alleging, among other things, that he pressured former FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro in 2021 to resolve fire safety violations at the Turkish consulate in Manhattan so the building could open in time for a visit by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s president. Prosecutors say Adams, who has pleaded not guilty, accepted bribes and illegal campaign cash in exchange for helping with the consulate issue.
In their indictment, Vavid is quoted as having texted Lewis-Martin on Jan. 17, 2023 he needed her to do him a “favor” in helping with the Hotel on Rivington issue.
After he sent her that message, prosecutors say Lewis-Martin texted back, referring to an encrypted messaging app: “Please only use Signal for asks.”
Lewis-Martin then sent a separate text to Vilenchik in which she copied Vaid’s request verbatim and added: “Please look into this with thanks and gratitude.”
In exchange for her help with DOB matters, Vaid and Dwivedi gave $100,000 to her and her son, most of which he used to buy a Porsche, the prosecutors allege.
Court papers say the two businessmen also promised Lewis-Martin they would invest in business ventures floated by her son, who’s a professional DJ known as “Suave Luciano.” Among the businesses Vaid and Dwivedi vowed to help Martin II launch were a Chick-fil-A franchise and a fashion line.
