That Stinks: Condo Owners Want Truffle Co. Moved Out

Inhabitants complain odor makes it difficult to sell, rent apartments

Luxury condos on the West Side may sound like a sweet real-estate deal to many individuals who covet the high life, but apartment owners in this building say it stinks – literally.

Inhabitants of 10 West End Avenue complain that international shop Urbani Truffles wreaked olfactory havoc on the building when the company bought a two-story retail condo and packed it high with boxes of the smelly white and black delicacies, according to The New York Times.

While some condo owners enjoy the touch truffles add to their meals, they don't like the scent that wafts up from Urbani and smothers the entire lobby with the suffocating stench of stinky cheese. And they say prospective buyers don't either.

Owners in the building contend the smell makes it difficult to lease and sell apartments. 

"It’s just overwhelming to me," Rosalind Rodburg, whose 21st floor, $1.8 million apartment remains woefully on the market, told the Times. “There’s no reason for my apartment not to be selling." 

The president of the company that runs the building said in a statement that management sealed "every square inch of the lobby" to prevent the odor from permeating, put in new fans and has spoken often with Urbani about doing something to contain the smell since it began in July, reports the Times.

For its part, Urbani put in new air ducts to cope with the odor and expects the system to be "fully operational" this week, according to the paper.
 

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