The U.S. Justice Department filed a landmark lawsuit yesterday against one of America’s largest apartment developers, saying it unlawfully discriminated against people with disabilities while designing and constructing a 361-unit apartment complex on Houston Street.

AvalonBay Communities violated the terms of the Fair Housing Act in its design and construction of Avalon Chrystie Place, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael Garcia, says in the suit.

The building has common areas that are not readily accessible to people with disabilities and lacks wheelchair-accessible routes to and from bathroom and kitchen areas within individual units, according to court documents.

“Housing must be available to all Americans without regard to disability,” Mr. Garcia said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue those who fail to design and construct accessible housing as required by federal law.”

The lawsuit is the first in Manhattan involving the Fair Housing Act, a law passed in 1968 that made housing discrimination of any kind illegal, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The suit seeks a court order that would force AvalonBay to bring the building, at 229 Chrystie Place, into compliance with Fair Housing Act requirements and would bar the developer from designing or constructing buildings unless they “contain accessibility features required by federal law.”

AvalonBay, whose headquarters are in Alexandria, Va., owns or has an interest in more than 180 communities around the country, including close to 53,000 apartments.

The developer sent a statement disputing claims that it didn’t provide access for those with disabilities in its complex.