475 Kent Vacate Order Lifted, Tenants Can Return
The saga of 475 Kent Avenue drew to a close yesterday. Roughly 14 weeks after the landlord of the live-work loft building was found to be running an illegal matzo bakery in the basement, the FDNY lifted its Vacate Order yesterday. Much protest and repair work later, the path now appears to be clear for…
The saga of 475 Kent Avenue drew to a close yesterday. Roughly 14 weeks after the landlord of the live-work loft building was found to be running an illegal matzo bakery in the basement, the FDNY lifted its Vacate Order yesterday. Much protest and repair work later, the path now appears to be clear for tenants to return. We’ve got an email into DOB to find out whether any bureaucratic hurdles regarding the C of O remain.
Update: We just heard from a Buildings Department official that the lifted Vacate Order does not mean that tenants may move back in. The building’s C of O remains for manufacturing so residential use ain’t kosher, according to the source. So much for that collective sigh of relief.
End of Matzogate: 475 Kent Residents Can Return [Curbed]
Artists Could Maybe (not) Return to Matzo Factory by May [Brownstoner]
475 Kent Tenants to Bloomberg: Let Us Back In! [Brownstoner]
Glimmers of Hope for 475 Kent Residents [Brownstoner]
Amen, 6:18.
i recently went to Berlin…that is a city which has revitalized itself via forward thinking policies vis a vis the visual arts, film, and music.
Even artists/musicians/filmmakers/writers etc. who don’t make much or any money from their art bring money and prestige to a city. New York runs its creative class out of town at its own peril.
uh…it isn’t the tenants who are breaking the law, it’s the landlord/owner who allowed the tenants to move in.
I know several people who live there and have visited many times. I doubt many of you live in nicer places actually – these were huge lofts with enormous windows looking out on to the river. It was a blessing to many serious artists who had places there.
New York derives much of its status from being a cultural capitol. The more we force artists out, the more it loses what used to make it unique. The landlord should bring it up to code, and the city should look at rezoning it. It would be a blow to the cultural life of the city to lose this space.
“The people living there are willing to put up with such a dump to live how they choose.”
COOL! Then they are also prepared, I assume, to put up with the consequences of their decision to break the law. That means they get thrown out when the building they illegally occupy is found to create a hazardous condition. They took a chance and lost. Tough luck.
‘To those of you who think it’s a dump – clearly you aren’t familiar with 1) conditions under which many NYers live, and 2) the needs of working artists who need a place to live and work with amenable neighbors, space and light.”
I grew up in East New York and have lived in Brooklyn my entire life. I can tell you unequivocally that this place IS a DUMP, I don’t care how much art you are your fancy friends are making there. I have a family with a background in the arts and music. I KNOW there are other places in Brooklyn with the space and light necessary to get your work done. If you guys opted to live in this place, that’s cool – it’s your right. But you can’t even BEGIN to convince me that this is place is NOT a dump. LOOK at it! It’s disgusting!
@2:36:
“tenants should be forced to pay a fine for breaking the law and not allowed to continue to break the law by moving back in. they are bad citizens, and there should be some penalty for their criminal behavior”
You are an idiot.
Many of the people in buildings like these are GOOD citizens. They aren’t moving into ‘normal’ apartment buildings and running chop saws over your head, or shaking your walls with the music they make, or allowing hazardous fumes into your unit while they paint.
Zoning laws move slow. These places aren’t illegal because people living there would be bad for society, they are illegal because the zoning intent was to preserve the industrial nature of the area. The industrial nature of this neighborhood is LONG gone.
You can idealize that people should have enough money to rent a regular apartment AND a separate workspace. But in today’s NYC that’s just not a reality.
These people are just trying to live in accordance with their own virtues. From the comments above, many think 475 kent is a dump. The people living there are willing to put up with such a dump to live how they choose.
A lifestyle difference, yes.
Criminal? Give me a break.
And yes, many of us will simply move along, out of NYC, and all you squares can continue to ruin this city.
feel bad for the commercial renters. they do, I think, have a case for suing the landlord (not the fire department – that’s is idiotic). however, the illegal residential tenants should be forced to pay a fine for breaking the law and not allowed to continue to break the law by moving back in. they are bad citizens, and there should be some penalty for their criminal behavior.
anyone who lives in there illegally with children should have social services remove the children. clearly a dangerous building for children, and knowingly putting your needs in front of the child’s is flat out scary parenting.
Congratulations and welcome home to all the weary residents!
To those of you who think it’s a dump – clearly you aren’t familiar with 1) conditions under which many NYers live, and 2) the needs of working artists who need a place to live and work with amenable neighbors, space and light.
Great building, good neighbors… don’t knock it!
Ellen
Congratulations and welcome home to all the weary residents!
To those of you who think it’s a dump – clearly you aren’t familiar with 1) conditions under which many NYers live, and 2) the needs of working artists who need a place to live and work with amenable neighbors, space and light.
Great building, good neighbors… don’t knock it!
Ellen