Queens building owners top worst landlords list
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The hole in Chris Barca’s bathroom at 34-15 Parsons Blvd. that was caused by a leak that went unaddressed by A&E management and eventually led to a fire. The building racked up more city violations than any other in Queens last year, according to a new list from the public advocate’s office. Photo via Chris Barca
By Ryan Schwach
A&E Real Estate, a notorious landlord that recently entered a $2 million dollar settlement with the city and has several buildings in Queens, topped the public advocate’s list of the worst landlords in the city.
A&E executives Margaret Brunn and Donald Hastings were named the two worst landlords in the five boroughs by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams on Wednesday, with their Queens buildings among those in the city with the most violations.
The two have nearly 50 buildings in Queens between them on the list, including the worst in the borough by violations from Housing Preservation and Development, and racked up a combined 6,740 violations among their Queens properties from November 2024 to October 2025.
“Our top two landlords have more violations than anyone in the list's history, and both represent the same company taking advantage of tenants all across the city,” said Williams.
It is the seventh time he has published the annual list of the city’s worst landlords and the first time the list’s top two landlords came from the same company.
“This is a demonstration of both the breadth of the violations at their properties and the means with which corporate entities seek to avoid accountability with the different LLCs and head offices in city records,” Williams said.
The building with the most violations among Brunn and Hastings’ portfolios is also the building with the most HPD violations in all of Queens.
34-15 Parsons Blvd. in Flushing, which is operated by Hastings and has 175 apartments, wracked up 548 violations from HPD and three from the Department of Buildings. The next worst Queens building had 376 violations.
Chris Barca, the longtime spokesperson for Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, recently left 34-15 Parsons after 12 years and myriad issues that reached a head this past fall.
Barca spoke to the Eagle in his personal capacity on Wednesday and his comments were not reflective of the BP’s office.
Barca said that for years he and his wife dealt with roaches, a ceiling collapse and other poor conditions, all with little response from A&E.
“It would take weeks for us to even get a response, to the point where we actually had a little mushroom growing out of the ceiling,” Barca said.
Things got worse this fall, when a leak in their bathroom opened up a basketball-sized hole in their wall. The building’s super tried to solve the problem by nailing a garbage bag over the leak, which Barca said wasn’t effective.
Two Queens landlords topped the city’s worst landlord list, released Tuesday by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Among them, 34-15 Parsons Boulevard, which has the most HPD violations of any Queens building. Screenshot via Google Maps
The leak spread and the hole grew, and water began leaking out of an electrical socket.
Weeks later, while Barca was out of town, the socket caught fire, and the power to the apartment had to be killed, displacing Barca and his wife, who were forced to live in a hotel.
All the while, A&E’s emergency maintenance line was unresponsive.
“For the longest time, I felt helpless,” the government worker said. “I can only imagine what it's like for people who are victims of negligence on behalf of their property manager or their landlord and do not know what to do.”
Barca said that while he’s glad the public advocate’s list brings attention to bad actors, it is ultimately up to the city to crack down and for landlords to fix their buildings.
“I can sit here and the city can sit here and issue violations out the wazoo, but it's ultimately on the management company to actually address the issues,” he said.
Barca and his wife now have a new place in Queens, but are still upset about losing their home of more than a decade.
“That was our home, and we just kind of lost it, through no fault of our own,” he said.
This is not the first time A&E made headlines in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, the real estate company reached a settlement with the city, promising to fix dangerous living conditions and stop harassing their tenants in 14 of their buildings, nine of which are in Queens.
The buildings had issues with bed bugs, fire hazards, malfunctioning elevators and other problems over the years.
Seven are managed by either Brunn or Hastings, but 34-15 Parsons is not among them.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said last week that A&E “operated with callous disregard for those residing in its properties.”
“This is not just a failure to serve those to whom it holds an obligation, it is a cruelty to over tens of thousands of New Yorkers,” he said.
Williams applauded the new mayor’s efforts around housing and tenant protections, and said this year’s worst landlord list was the first put together with help from City Hall.
“With an administration committed to housing justice, tenant support and using all of the tools able to deliver, I am reinvigorated by the change we can create,” he said.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams unveiled his list of the worst landlords in the city on Wednesday. Photo by Caroll Andrewsk/New York City Public Advocate's Office
But Williams said there is still more to do, including giving city government and his own office the ability to go after landlords and even take properties if violations go unaddressed.
“Even though there was a settlement with A&E…there are still repairs that need to be done here,” he added, referring to the Brooklyn building where a press conference about the list was held.
In a statement to the Eagle, an A&E spokesperson said that the company has invested $800 million to address issues with their buildings.
“To label over $800 million in repairs as ‘neglect’ is misleading and unrealistic, even as we recognize there is much more work to be done,” the spokesperson said. “It has been our mission to work with the city to improve every building we manage and address long-standing issues at properties that have been neglected for too long. That will not change.”
The next highest ranked “worst” landlord with Queens properties on the list was Joseph Pistilli of the Whitestone-based Pistilli Realty Group, who is ranked ninth.
Pistilli has two buildings in Queens named on the list, with 222 HPD violations between them.
