A Brazilian banking billionaire has been shaking up the famed Hotel des Artistes, according to a rattled neighbor.
Pedro Moreira Salles plunked down $13.6 million on the ninth floor unit above antique dealer Herbert Schinderman in December 2019 and began renovating in 2020.
Ever since, Schinderman, 81, has been subject to “daily pounding high-volume noise and vibration that make it impossible for [him] and his family to quietly enjoy their home,” according to a lawsuit.
The 18-story West 67th Street building steps from Central Park has been home to famous names like Noel Coward, Norman Rockwell, Fannie Hurst and Isadora Duncan.
Salles, 63, is worth $4 billion and a member of one of Brazil’s oldest banking families, according to Forbes.
The work involves a construction crew of 40 to 50 people and includes the installation of a private elevator, which Schinderman says in Manhattan Supreme Court papers the co-op should not have approved.
Schinderman, who has lived in the Upper West Side building since at least 1998, said the interminable construction has caused his “dishes to vibrate, walls to crack, pictures on the wall to become crooked, and construction debris to land on the windowsills” of his eighth-floor co-op, court papers read.
Between the noise, vibration and “what sounds like heavy objects being dropped and rolled on the floor of Salles’ apartment,” Schinderman claims he “lives in fear that his ceiling will collapse.”
He claimed the situation is so bad he’s been forced to leave his home and is seeking $1 million in damages.
Lawyers for Salles did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.