"Chocolate Factory" Apartment A Mold-Plagued, Toxic Rat Hole, Says Couple In $1M Suit; Persistent Breathing Problems, Toddler's Rashes Among Claims

In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Post reports:

• This was no sweet deal. A couple paying nearly $3,000 a month to live in the posh Chocolate Factory development overlooking the Brooklyn Navy Yard says their so-called luxury apartment is plagued with toxic mold and vermin -- and building management refuses to do anything about it. Jonathan Mairs, a media consultant for a finance firm, and his acupuncturist wife, Momoko Uno, claim they suffered persistent trouble breathing in their 1,500-square-foot loft with Manhattan skyline views. Their daughter, Jun, 3, has had rashes and stomach problems, they say.

• When they hired their own air-quality expert in April, tests found three different kinds of mold in the walls in the apartment that also became overrun with mice and rats, they claim. "This is supposed to be a luxury building," Uno said. "This is not luxury." Mairs, 38, and Uno, 37, said they had no choice but to file a $1 million lawsuit in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Source: Luxe apt. a 'toxic rat hole'