The Washington Condominium at 35 Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights has been a long time coming. As blogger Set Speed first mentioned on Friday, the building finally got its Temporary C of O last week after countless delays. His announcement stirred up a rather contentious debate in the comments section over some of the quick-fixes that the developer has performed to get around the FAR calculation problems of Mezzaninegate, photos of which mysteriously arrived in our mailbox yesterday. The most bizarre? He reportedly has reduced the ceiling height in the mezzanines from seven feet to five feet (the point at which the space is considered storage rather than living space) by building up plywood platforms (see photos). One commenter on the Set Speed thread said that DOB was okay with this approach and that it had happened at a number of the other Scarano projects with similar violations. Can this be true? Does anyone know if using plywood like this is up to code? Seems like the Fire Department might have something to say about it. If all is not on the up-and-up, what does this mean for the building and those who already handed over their down payments last year?
The Washington Gets Temporary C of O? [Set Speed]
Checking In on the Washington Condos [Brownstoner] GMAP