High Line Hotel Faces Legionella Probe After 700 cfu/mL Tower Test in Chelsea
Updated
Updated · Gothamist · Aug 8
High Line Hotel Faces Legionella Probe After 700 cfu/mL Tower Test in Chelsea
3 articles · Updated · Gothamist · Aug 8
Summary
700 cfu/mL of Legionella was found in a July 23 test at the High Line Hotel’s cooling tower, leading the hotel workers’ union to file a complaint and city health officials to investigate.
170 cfu/mL had already been detected earlier this summer; city rules require disinfection above 10 cfu/mL, while results above 1,000 trigger broader remediation and mandatory notice within 24 hours.
Union members were briefly pulled from the hotel after management initially withheld remediation records, then returned after arbitration; when the second positive result surfaced Thursday, the union said management again refused to let workers leave.
Health officials said Legionella was not detected in a city sample taken July 1, and an expert said elevated counts alone do not directly predict disease risk because transmission depends on multiple factors.
The complaint lands less than a week after New York City declared an Upper East Side Legionnaires’ outbreak over, after seven deaths and dozens of illnesses.