Mercedes-Benz Manhattan's 330,000 square-foot dealership is a model of quiet efficiency. Towering windows cast golden afternoon sun serenely across acres of luxury cars. Attentive greeters, trained by Ritz Carlton, greet customers from behind a hotel-like concierge desk. Every touch-point inside the $30 million facility is welcoming and helpful. Outside? Local residents say it's a train wreck.
Mercedes-Benz calls its swank flagship store — on 11th Avenue between 53rd and 54th Street — an "experience center," but Hell's Kitchen locals who live and work near the building say that experience sucks, thanks to some very loud exhaust vents.
Some say the building's six exhaust vents are so loud, they're making them deaf. According to the NY Post, the roaring vents have been the subject of complaints from local residents, who say living with the Merc ducts is like "having a fighter-jet engine across the street." Another resident claims chronic headaches, while others insist the noise — described as a "vacuum cleaner in a wind tunnel" is keeping them up nights.
Residents of one building facing the vents say they often exhale their noisy car breath 24-7.
After numerous complaints, The City of New York intervened, and cited the dealership for exceeding decibel limits. A dealership rep addressed residents' complaints at a recent community board meeting, acknowledging that the noise was making living around the building "less than ideal." According to the Post, the company-owned dealership has received an initial study from an engineering firm, but a proposal for a fix hasn't yet been finalized.
See? We knew moving to turbocharged V8s was a bad idea.