Developers charge Peekskill building inspector with religious discrimination

A Peekskill building inspector has been operating a home inspection business on the side, according to a lawsuit filed by two Rockland developers who also claim that the official stalled renovations on the Riley Building because of animus toward Jews.

Avrum Chaim Lebrecht and Shia Lebrecht, Hasidic Jews from Spring Valley, accused the city and assistant building inspector Thomas Leonard and building inspector Nicholas Cecere of religious discrimination, in a complaint filed Oct. 22 in U.S. District Court, White Plains.

Leonard owned and operated JT Home Inspections Inc. while employed as an assistant building inspector, the complaint states, “a fact known to Peekskill’s officials who condoned this blatant conflict of interest.”

Leonard, Cecere and the city’s corporate counsel office did not respond to emails asking for their side of the story.

The Lebrechts bought the Riley Building on Division Street for $850,000 in 2018. The four-story, 8,000 square foot commercial structure was built in 1890 and was 50% vacant. They planned a $1.4 million renovation, keeping the first floor for commercial use and building apartments on the top three floors.

A building permit was approved by previous building inspector Jeff Roma. Demolition began in June 2019, and by October 2019 the framing, plumbing, electric, HVAC and sprinkler system were completed.

Roma had retired in August 2019, according to the complaint. The city replaced him with Cecere and hired Leonard as an assistant.

In November 2019, Leonard allegedly began a “three-year malicious and unlawful campaign” against the developers. He allegedly issued stop work orders, enforced regulations selectively, and made them do unnecessary work.

He ordered them to install scaffolding, for  example, because bricks were falling from the building. But workers had removed the bricks from the building, the Lebrechts claim, and placed on the sidewalk.

Leonard claimed there had been an accident on the property, according to the complaint, when in fact the accident happened at an adjacent property.

Leonard allegedly demanded that Chaim Lebrecht fire his attorney because he “didn’t want a lawyer on his back,” and to remove Shia Lebrecht as the project manager “because he was “too challenging.”

Delays and demands added $100,000 in unnecessary costs, the Lebrechts claim, $500,000 in interest payments on the construction loan, and $1 million in lost rents.

Now, nearly three years after receiving land use approvals, the property still does not have approval for a water connection or a certificate of occupancy and there is “no indication as to when they will be issued.”

The lawsuit does not cite Cecere for any specific acts but claims he condoned and approved Leonard’s action as his supervisor.

The explanation for the delays and demands, according to the Lebrechts, is antisemitism. They bolster their claim with an email report from Cortlandt Manor real estate broker Arber Balidemaj, who worked as a consultant on the Riley Building project.

Balidemaj said he had used Leonard to do home inspections on properties in Peekskill even as Leonard inspected renovations of his project as a city building inspector.

JT Homes Inspections Inc., Putnam Valley, was formed by Leonard in 2014, according to a state corporation record, and remains active.

As a city official, Leonard quickly approved plans for a Balidemaj’s project, “because I was giving him jobs for home inspections.”

Balidemaj says Leonard targeted the Lebrechts.

“Tom told me multiple times how much he hated the “Jews,” and how he dreaded working with them. … He couldn’t  wait for them to leave town because they ruined every area they went into. I kept my mouth shut because the owner of the building, Chaim Lebrecht, is a client of mine and has been for six years.”

On another occasion, Leonard allegedly advised Balidemaj to stay away from the Lebrechts or “charge them three times the normal price, because it would cost me to get that building approved by him.”

Balidemaj says they parted ways after Leonard botched a home inspection in Pound Ridge, costing Balidemaj a client.

The Lebrechts accused the city and its officials of violating due process laws under the U.S. Constitution and religious discrimination under the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the state human rights laws.

They are demanding unspecified general and punitive damages.

The Lebrechts are represented by Manhattan attorney Daniel W. Isaacs.