Mid-Town South Pct Concerns: Redbury Hotel Shelter, 7-Eleven Homicide and P.O. Check Fraud

Problems at the landmarked Redbury Hotel which was converted to a migrant shelter in August 2023, emerged as a hot button issue during the Midtown South precinct’s monthly community council meeting.

One local resident, Michael Casper, expressed his concerns over the lack of security for the building. He complained that there were scooters parked illegally on the street of the shelter that were not ticketed.

“I’ve talked to the officers who are issuing tickets to ask them why they’re not giving tickets to the scooters, which belong to folks at the migrant shelter, and I don’t get a clear answer,” he said. “It seems like they’re just not enforcing the rules, to be honest.”

Even if he parked his car for an alleged “few minutes to go upstairs to my apartment,” Casper said he’d be hit with a ticket. Additionally, he has reported witnessing, “cars selling stuff out of the back of the car,” as well as people drinking alcohol on the street, loitering, and, “other illicit activities.”

The precinct’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Christopher Treubig said that his team is aware of problems at Redbury Hotel and that he will be in contact with the quality-of-life team to deal with the issues raised by Casper. In reference to the scooters, Treubig said, “Obviously if they’re illegally parked, they shouldn’t be there.” He went on to say that he would be in touch with the special operations lieutenant who oversees the quality-of-life team to, “...make sure that we head over there and address these conditions.”

Community council president Brian Weber inquired about the issues at the shelter. “The Redbury has been an issue ever since being utilized as a shelter...It was under the impression that the city was slowly shutting down the migrant shelters. I’m wondering if there’s any status on what is occurring with the Redbury. I think keeping the residents who live nearby informed and the community informed would be very helpful.”

The landmarked Redbury Hotel is a 13 story Renaissance Revival building that traces its roots back to its opening in 1903 when it was known as the Martha Washington Hotel and was the first hotel in the city to cater to single, professional woment. The name was changed to the Redbury in 2016 following its $158 million acquisition by Los Angeles-based CIM Group

Uri Fraenkel, Director of Special Projects at the Mayor’s office, said that he would collect more details and get back to Weber on the situation. “I’ll do my magic, he promised. Weber added the community would prefer if the building was return to its former use as a hotel, “We had significant problems with the new community that’s in there. It’s a different type of problem, but it certainly impacts the quality of life there.”

The post office on 38th Street has been “...a known problem” with theft, as stated by local resident Jonathan Furay. At the end of last year, he was a victim of whitewashing fraud for one of his checks. “It was a nightmare for us,” he said. Treubig responded by saying he would check in with his detective squad to see how many open cases they have at that location. Due to the severity of the check fraud, Furay commented, “It’s a post office I’ve always used for 30 years...but I’m no longer using the 38th Street post office.” Treubig said that he would touch base with the post office and hopefully have an answer for Furay.

With the recent homicide at a 7-Eleven on Eighth Avenue and 39th Street, Treubig said he was unable to say much since it is an open investigation and the suspect remains at large. However, he did confirm some important details. “It pretty much stemmed from a dispute between the two individuals. “Unfortunately, one of the individuals was armed with a firearm and shot the victim.” According to Treubig, police believe it was one off and wasn’t gang or narcotic motivated. “Eighth Avenue, of course, is always our concern as far as violent crime.”

The Eighth Ave. stretch between Madison Square Garden and the Port Authority which encompasses the area where the 7-Eleven homicide occurred mid-morning on Feb. 12, has been dubbed the “Strip of Despair” by the New York Post due to the presence of drug dealing, homelessness, public intoxication and violence.

The Mid-Town South Precinct will be getting an influx of new rookie police officer when the next Police Academy class graduates on March 9, Truebig said, but he was not sure the precise number.

Aside from the still unsolved homicide at 7-Eleven, the bitter cold appears to have driven down crime in the precinct that covers most of Chelsea and east to Grand Central. The seven major crime categories showed a 16.2 percent decline in reported crime incidents through Feb. 22, dropping to 399 incidents in 2026 vs. 476 a year earlier, according to the NYPD’s CompStat figures.