But the man's nephew Michael and his lawyers are contesting the handwritten note which they say does not meet legal standards.
He is his uncle's only living blood relative and believes he is entitled to the money.
In the most recent development, a judge agreed with Evans that the note, which appears to have been written on notebook paper, did not hold up.
Now, both sides have been given the chance to go into Evans' apartment to find further proof of who the rightful heir is.
Hoti and his colleagues say they are in no doubt that the man wanted to leave his fortune to them.
They say they only ever saw Evans trying to visit his uncle once over the last 28 years and that the older man turned him away.
They did not know that he was sitting on millions of dollars until after his death.
According to Hoti, he lived reclusively and was sometimes mistaken by others in the building for a homeless man.
Hoti claims that on one occasion, he and his colleagues had to go into the apartment, clean it up and repaint it for him because it had become so dishevelled.
'I was like the son he never had.
'At one point his apartment was so filthy they were going to call the city on him so me and [super Nick Pocesta], we cleaned out his whole apartment, threw out the old furniture. Nick painted it.
'We washed up and things like that so they wouldn't go after him. We took care of this gentlemen.
'He loved me. He told me, straight up, 11 years ago, "Eddie I've made a will and I've left you the apartment,"" he told The New York Post.
The will is not dated. It is titled 'Last Will of Stephen S. Evans' and reads: '1. Bill Frankley - executor. No funeral - cremation
'2. Apt 26, 430 East 56th St and contents to Eddie Hoti
'3. To staff of 430 East 56th St, a) Bank of America CD, b) M&T savings acct, c) Comm stk of Exxonmobil.
'Stephen S. Evans'
There is no suggestion that the man's relatives believe the note was forged. Their argument is that is does not stand up in court and was not notarized.
Bill Dworkin, a lawyer who also lives in the building, said: 'It's a tragedy, because they were clearly the intended beneficiaries.'
Fellow tenant Fay Lee told WABC: 'I am a million percent sure that that is what he wanted.
'He wanted whatever he had to go to the people he cared most about, and those are the people who cared most about him.'