The Ossining Mirror Company is seeking a refund of the rent

A tenant at the Wire Mill Industrial Park in Ossining claims the landlord covered up environmental pollution to fraudulently lease the property.

Mirage Mirror & Glass Inc. is demanding that The Wire Mill LLC and operator Robert Fedigan cancel the lease and return nearly seven years of rent.

According to the complaint filed Oct. 23 in Westchester Superior Court, Fedigan “intentionally concealed” the contamination “in order to defraud and defraud” Mirage Mirror & Glass.

Fedigan did not respond to an email to his Mini Storage Center across the street from Mirage Mirror asking for his side of the story.

Hudson Wire Company began making copper wire products at the Water Street site in 1909 and sold the 3.7-acre site to Fedigan in 1997, according to the complaint.

In 2010, the New York State Department of Environmental Protection accepted the site for its Cleanup Program.

Pollutants were found in soil, groundwater and air. Soil was removed. Equipment has been installed to prevent the leakage of soil vapors into the building. The building floor and asphalt parking lot had to be free of cracks to trap contaminated vapors. Indoor air should be tested every year.

Wire Mill was forced to file for an environmental easement in county court. The property was cleaned up as stated in the easement, but the groundwater could not be used, the air still had to be controlled, and the floor and parking lot had to remain closed.

According to the complaint, anyone who leased space from The Wire Mill was required to obtain a copy of the site management plan and include environmental easement terms in their leases.

John Count, president of Mirage Mirror & Glass, leased one of the buildings for five years in 2018 and renewed the lease for another five years in 2023. The 7,300-square-foot building includes offices and an outdoor area where the glass is made. About 10 people work there.

Count claims Fedigan did not tell him about any contamination when they agreed to the lease. When Graf discovered the problems and confronted Fedigan last January, he said, Fedigan said he was not entitled to information about the contamination.

An environmental consultant hired by The Wire Mill then tested the indoor air and found elevated levels, according to the complaint, but Fedigan declined to share the results.

A consultant hired by Mirage Mirror allegedly discovered large cracks in the building’s floor that allowed soil vapors to contaminate the building, the complaint said. And the state Department of Environmental Protection ordered Wire Mill to provide Mirage Mirror with the air test results and seal the cracks.

Mirage Mirror accuses Fedigan and The Wire Mill of fraudulently concealing the contamination and breaching the leases by failing to disclose the facts.

Mirage Mirror is represented by White Plains attorneys Nicholas M. Ward-Willis and Andrew P. Thureau of Keane & Beane PC