Hear from Our Customers
Finding bed bugs in your Gramercy Park apartment is one of those moments that changes how you feel about your own home. You start questioning the couch, the headboard, the luggage you brought back from that last trip. That feeling doesn’t go away on its own and it doesn’t go away with a can from the hardware store either.
What actually fixes it is a certified specialist who understands how bed bugs move through the kind of buildings that define this neighborhood. The pre-war co-ops and brownstones along Irving Place and the surrounding blocks aren’t just architecturally beautiful they’re structurally complex. Plaster walls, aging pipe chases, shared floor joists: these are the exact conditions that let a single-unit problem become a building-wide problem within weeks if it’s not handled correctly and completely.
When treatment is done right, you get your home back. Not just a reduced infestation a resolved one. No more waking up to check the sheets. No more anxiety about having guests over. No more wondering if it’s spreading to the unit next door. That’s the outcome. That’s what this is actually about.
Kingsway Exterminating Company has been serving New York City since the 1980s long before bed bug treatment became a crowded market full of landing pages and overnight specialists. Founded by Richard Kourbage and BBB A+ accredited since May 5, 1989, we’re still family-owned and still operate the same way we always have: show up, assess honestly, treat completely, and don’t upsell.
That last part matters more than it sounds. Customers have specifically called it out in reviews that our technicians assess what’s actually there and recommend what’s actually needed. In a neighborhood like Gramercy Park, where residents are experienced enough to spot a pitch from a mile away, that kind of straightforwardness is what earns a callback.
Our team collectively brings over 100 years of hands-on pest control experience, and we’re fully licensed under NYSDEC requirements, bonded, and insured. Manhattan’s pre-war building stock the exact housing type that defines Gramercy Park is familiar territory for us.
It starts with a call and someone actually answers, any time of day or night. From there, we schedule a thorough bed bug inspection, often the same day, and guarantee an appointment within two days. You won’t be sitting on hold or waiting a week for someone to show up.
The inspection is a real one. A certified specialist walks through your space, checks the areas bed bugs actually hide mattress seams, box springs, baseboards, wall voids, electrical outlets and gives you an honest picture of what’s there and how far it’s spread. In Gramercy Park’s older building stock, that assessment includes attention to the shared infrastructure that makes multi-unit spread a real risk: wall cavities, aging plumbing runs, and the structural gaps that are common in buildings constructed a century ago.
From there, you get a treatment plan and a free estimate before any work begins. Most bed bug infestations require two to four visits over a three-to-six-week period to fully eliminate including eggs that hatch after the initial treatment. We walk you through the timeline, what to prepare before each visit, and what to expect after. If you’re a building owner or co-op manager dealing with HPD compliance requirements under NYC Local Law 69, we can also provide the pest inspection documentation you need. No surprises. No pressure. Just a clear plan and people who follow through on it.
Ready to get started?
Bed bug treatment in a Gramercy Park brownstone or pre-war co-op isn’t the same as treating a newer construction apartment. The building itself is part of the equation. Our approach accounts for the structural realities of older Manhattan buildings the wall voids, the plaster construction, the interconnected systems that can carry an infestation from one unit to the next without anyone noticing until it’s already spread.
Treatment methods are environmentally responsible and safe for the kinds of homes people actually live in here spaces with original hardwood floors, period millwork, and architectural details that matter to the people who live with them. You won’t be asked to gut your apartment or throw out furniture that doesn’t need to go.
For residents, our service covers a complete inspection, a customized treatment plan, and follow-up visits to confirm the infestation is fully resolved. For building owners and co-op boards managing properties near Stuyvesant Town’s eastern border or along the historic blocks surrounding the park, we also provide pest inspection reports and NYC Department of Health clearance certificates the documentation that satisfies HPD’s Annual Bed Bug Report requirements under Local Law 69. Whether you’re a tenant dealing with a single-unit problem or a managing agent responsible for a multi-family building, our process is built around what you actually need, not what’s easiest to sell.
Yes and in pre-war buildings specifically, it happens more easily than most people expect. The construction methods used in the brownstones and co-ops that make up most of Gramercy Park’s housing stock create conditions that modern buildings don’t have: plaster walls with gaps, aging pipe chases, shared floor joists, and wall voids that connect adjacent units without any obvious opening. Bed bugs don’t need much space to travel through these pathways.
This is why treating a single unit and calling it done often isn’t enough in an older Manhattan building. A thorough inspection needs to account for neighboring units and shared building infrastructure not just the apartment where the infestation was first discovered. If you’re a tenant, it’s worth notifying your building manager. If you’re the building owner, addressing it building-wide from the start is almost always faster and less expensive than treating one unit at a time as the infestation spreads.
For a standard apartment, professional bed bug treatment in Manhattan generally runs between $1,000 and $2,500 depending on the size of the space, the severity of the infestation, and how many visits are required. Severe infestations particularly in larger units or multi-room situations can reach $4,000 to $6,000. Most treatments require two to four visits over a three-to-six-week period, because a single application doesn’t eliminate eggs that hatch after the first treatment.
The free estimate we provide before any work begins gives you a clear number upfront no hidden fees, no surprise invoices after the fact. In a neighborhood where you’re likely paying well above the city median in rent or carrying costs, the last thing you need is a pest control bill that grows after you’ve already agreed to the work. What’s quoted is what you pay.
Local Law 69 of 2017 requires owners of multiple dwellings buildings with three or more residential units to file an Annual Bed Bug Report with the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) every December, covering the period from November 1 through October 31. The report must document which units had active infestations, which received treatment, and which were confirmed infestation-free after treatment. Owners are also required to disclose bed bug infestation history dating back one year to new tenants at lease signing and renewal.
Non-compliance carries real consequences. In the first five months of 2024 alone, HPD issued more than 50,000 violation notices for missing reports and those violations are publicly visible on HPD Online. For co-op boards and managing agents overseeing properties in Gramercy Park, that kind of public record has direct implications for property values and prospective tenant decisions. We provide pest inspection reports and DOH clearance certificates that support your filing and give you the documentation trail you need.
Bed bug bites alone aren’t a reliable way to confirm an infestation reactions vary widely from person to person, and bites from other insects can look similar. The more reliable indicators are physical evidence in your space: small rust-colored stains on your mattress or sheets from crushed bugs, dark ink-dot-sized fecal spots along mattress seams or baseboards, shed exoskeletons near harborage areas, or in more established infestations a faint musty odor in the bedroom.
If you’re seeing unexplained bites but can’t find physical evidence, a professional inspection is the fastest way to get a definitive answer. Our certified specialists know where bed bugs actually hide in the kinds of units common to Gramercy Park behind headboards, inside box spring seams, along baseboard gaps, inside electrical outlets, and within the wall voids of older plaster construction. A trained eye in the right places will tell you what’s actually there, so you’re not treating a problem you don’t have or missing one that you do.
Under New York City law, landlords are generally responsible for maintaining rental units in a habitable condition and that includes addressing bed bug infestations. If you report bed bugs to your landlord and they fail to act, you can file a complaint with 311, which triggers an HPD inspection. If live bed bugs are confirmed during that inspection, HPD issues a violation against the property owner and sets a remediation deadline.
That said, the practical reality is that tenants who wait for the process to play out through HPD can be living with an active infestation for weeks while the complaint works through the system. If you want the problem addressed faster and in Gramercy Park’s pre-war buildings, faster matters because of how quickly bed bugs can spread between units calling a certified specialist directly and then coordinating with your landlord on cost is often the more effective path. We can also provide documentation of the inspection and treatment that supports any formal complaint or legal process if needed.
Travel is a common vector, but it’s far from the only one and in a dense residential neighborhood like Gramercy Park, you don’t need to have gone anywhere. Bed bugs can travel between units through shared wall voids and building infrastructure, which is especially relevant in the pre-war brownstones and co-ops that define this neighborhood. A neighbor’s infestation can become yours without either of you realizing it until the problem is already established.
Other common sources include secondhand furniture a particular consideration in a neighborhood where vintage and antique pieces are popular as well as guests staying in your home, used clothing or linens, and even shared laundry facilities. The large residential density of Stuyvesant Town immediately to the east of Gramercy Park also means there’s consistent bed bug pressure in the broader area, independent of any individual travel history. The source matters less than the response: a professional inspection to confirm what’s there and a treatment plan to resolve it completely.
Local Resources
Useful Links
Other Services we provide in Gramercy Park
