Residents of 475 Kent Avenue are pitching in to fix the Williamsburg building’s many safety violations—chief among them a broken sprinkler system—so that the city lets them back into their building, according to a story in yesterday’s Times. The city estimated that the sprinkler system would take around three months to fix, and the residents are trying to expedite the repairs. Nevertheless, the 200-plus people booted from the artists’ enclave last month may eventually be allowed to move back in despite the fact that the building still doesn’t have a C of O for residential use, and the article says that 475 Kent owners Nachman Brach and Morris Hartman have been devastated by its evacuation. (This seems contrary to the rumors that Brach & Co. want to convert the building into pricey condos.) A number of 475 Kent residents say they want to wait out the repairs and move back in to their former home because there aren’t many properties that can compare to it. All the new construction is tiny, very cookie-cutter, very clean and hygienic. You could almost smell the pharmacy, said Hagai Yardenay, a videographer who lived on the eighth floor. This building is a lot more grungy, but it’s real. It’s magical. It’s different. You can’t replicate it.
After Evacuation, Artists Begin an Effort to Save Their Haven [NY Times]
475 Kent Tenants to Bloomberg: Let Us Back In! [Brownstoner]
DOB, FDNY Deliver Bad News to 475 Kent Tenants [Brownstoner]
DOB, FDNY Deliver Bad News to 475 Kent Tenants [Brownstoner]
475 Kent Avenue: How It All Began [Brownstoner] GMAP
Big Showing From Pols at 475 Kent Vigil [Brownstoner]
Closing Bell: Moving Out at 475 Kent Avenue [Brownstoner]
‘Commune of Creative Types’ in the Burg is Emptied Out [Brownstoner]
Photo by BruceLabounty802.