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Y&R Building Where Suzanne Hart Died Hit With 11 Elevator Violations

By Mary Johnson | January 12, 2012 4:08pm
Suzanne Hart, 41, an exec at Young & Rubicam, was killed in an elevator accident at the firm's offices at 285 Madison Ave. on Dec. 13, 2011.
Suzanne Hart, 41, an exec at Young & Rubicam, was killed in an elevator accident at the firm's offices at 285 Madison Ave. on Dec. 13, 2011.
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Facebook/Suzanne Hart

MIDTOWN — The building where Young & Rubicam advertising exec Suzanne Hart was crushed to death by a malfunctioning elevator was hit with 11 Department of Buildings violations in the hours and days following her death, city records show.

All the violations have been issued against Y&R, which owns the building at 285 Madison Ave. and employed the late Hart as an ad executive.

Hart was killed on Dec. 14 when the elevator she was entering shot up unexpectedly before she could get all the way inside. That particular lift had undergone repairs earlier in the morning, just hours before she arrived at the building.

Immediately following the tragic incident, the Department of Buildings launched an investigation into Transel Elevators, the company responsible for servicing the units at 285 Madison Ave.

The building, located between East 40th and East 41st streets, has since severed its ties with Transel and brought on P.S. Marcato, a Long Island City-based elevator company, a spokesman for the building’s management company, Cushman & Wakefield, told DNAinfo.

Last week, the Department of Buildings said its investigations into Transel and Hart's death were ongoing. A call to the DOB on Thursday was not immediately returned.

The New York Post reported that the violations issued by the DOB do not hint at any potential causes for the accident. The elevator Hart was in was cited only for missing its required certificate of compliance.

Other problems listed in the violations, issued on Dec. 14 and 15, include elevator parts that were either missing or improperly installed and a failure to conduct annual reports on parts of at least two lifts in the building.

Hearings on all the violations have been set for Feb. 2.