Chinatown Neighbors Sue to Halt Late-Night Work at Manhattan Jail Site

What happened

Neighbors of the future Manhattan jail in Chinatown filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday to stop late-night construction at the site, Curbed reported on October 21, 2026. The jail is being built at White and Centre Streets, on the former site of the Manhattan Detention Complex, known as the Tombs. Plaintiffs include local residents, the nonprofit Welcome to Chinatown, and Neighbors United Below Canal, a group co-founded by Councilmember Christopher Marte. Some of these neighbors had already tried and failed in court to block the jail itself.

A city advisory published earlier this month says weekday work on White Street will run from at least 6 a.m. through midnight, with deliveries from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. There will also be daytime work on Saturdays. The design-build team is Tutor Perini and O&G Industries. Curbed reported that the contractors installed dust and noise monitors and are using sound blankets and noise barriers.

Residents describe shaking ground, constant noise and floodlights at night. Jon Alpert, 77, who lives at 87 Lafayette Street, said in an affidavit that he can only sleep undisturbed from midnight to 4 a.m. Betty Lee, 77, and her husband live in a rent-stabilized apartment on Baxter Street. The complaint says they already could not open their windows and now face "essentially daylight conditions" in the evening. Ping Ai Mei, 88, lives at Chung Pak, the low-income senior facility next to the site. She says demolition dust has caused health issues and that she moved to a new unit in the building last year.

The suit argues that a jail does not meet the legal test for extended after-hours work, which it says is allowed only for certain projects, such as those in the interest of public health and safety. It also says the city violated state environmental law because the current plan is more than double the intensity and construction period studied in the environmental review. According to the suit, the city has said a mostly weekday, normal-hours schedule would push completion from 2032 to 2034 and add $340 million to the $3.9 billion estimated cost. Dana Kaplan, the city's "Close Rikers" lead, said the after-hours work keeps the project on the fastest possible timeline. A mayoral spokesperson said City Hall will review the claims.