The neighbors can't stop talking about this fight club.
Residents of a Queens apartment building say they haven’t had a moment of peace since January, when the 128-room hotel in Long Island City was converted into a city-run migrant shelter.
People living next to 911 44th Drive claim that children living in the seven-story building hang out in large, unsupervised groups outside the main entrance almost every evening. From 8 p.m. until after midnight, the kids fight and chase each other, yell, scream – and disturb neighbors' sleep.
“I’ve seen kids fight like in ‘Fight Club,’ and I’ve even seen them strangle each other,” another resident said. “Sometimes, the guards come out and break it up. But I’ve also seen them do nothing.
“Five or six teenagers between the ages of 12 and 14 were beating a young child one night,” the resident said. “The child couldn’t have been older than 8, and they were kicking him in the head after forcing him to the sidewalk.”
Video provided to The Post shows teenagers yelling and fighting outside the shelter’s main gate, at times with the shelter’s security guards watching and provoking them.
The footage shows young children being trampled by a crowd of other children. In one video, an older boy approaches a much younger boy, holds him over his head, and after struggling back and forth for several minutes, throws him to the ground like a professional wrestler.
Other videos show children playing on skateboards late at night after dark. Other children are seen playing chase, with the building's security guards also joining in.
Two fans, an air conditioner and earplugs are nothing in the face of the incessant noise.
“The way the kids scream and yell, it makes everything sound like a scream,” said a neighbor who has lived in the building since 2011. “Since around April, I would say it’s been a nightly occurrence,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“I am not against migrants, but hearing this every night, not being able to sleep, is becoming unbearable,” he said.
And this is affecting their health.
“I suffer from an autoimmune disorder that is normally controlled with proper sleep and diet, but because of the way it has developed I find myself more vulnerable than usual,” the man said.
Luiza Cabrera, 25, often passes the shelter on her way home in the evening.
“It's disturbing to see things like this every night and some of these kids are really helpless,” said Cabrera, an interior design student. “Where are the parents? Why isn't anybody keeping an eye on these kids?”
A total of 17 complaints have been received to 311 since June regarding nighttime noise outside a shelter operated by the Department of Homeless Services.
The former Wyndham Gardens is located in a large industrial area, across the street from the Department of Education's administration building.
The hotel was sold to a Long Island-based company in November last year. Bayrock Capital For around $24 million.
Both neighbors said they have contacted Councilwoman Julie Vaughn's office about excessive noise and scuffles between minors.
One neighbor said, “I was told DHS told them the security guards would enforce the noise ordinance, but they don't.”
A Department of Social Services spokesperson would not even confirm that the former hotel is now a shelter, which is meant to “protect the privacy of vulnerable New Yorkers” and protect “the social service beneficiaries who reside in these spaces.”
The angry neighbor said: “I don't care who you are or where you come from, but be a good neighbor. It's really no more complicated than wanting to go to sleep by a reasonable time.”
