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December 7, 2007
Fire at Suite Sixteen Last Night
We've just received word that there was a fire at the 32-unit Suite Sixteen condos at 198 16th Street in the South Slope in the wee hours of this morning at around 11:30 last night. Here's the eyewitness account from a neighbor's email.:
There is currently a small fire at Suite Sixteen burning, the Fire department is on scene breaking open most of the condos on the street level within the building to gain access. In addition they are currently hosing down one of the apartments where there is a large amount of smoke visible. Over the last few days one of the condos on the ground floor had furniture moved in and shades put up. The smoke is most obvious in this one. I asked one of the fireman what was going on and he said something about a heater overheating, this is obviously not the final word as they are still hosing stuff off.
Any other eyewitness accounts? Photos?
Update: Here's the scoop. A plumber was apparently doing work on Apartment 1C when his torch ignited some pieces of insulation in the wall. There was a lot of smoke and some water damage to 1C and the fire department had to break through to 1B. There were also some windows broken on the second floor. No one hurt.
Another Update: Photos, including the one above, can be found here.
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Comments
I can't believe they actually named this building the thing that they named it, which I can't bear to repeat.
Posted by: Rehab at December 7, 2007 11:46 AM
Ditto on the name, Rehab. Are home-buying adults really supposed to take this place seriously? It's absolutely shocking to me.
Posted by: guest at December 7, 2007 11:55 AM
While I hope that no one was hurt or injured, and the fire for the condo owner sucks, but I am not surprised if this is not the first "malfunction" in this condo development. The shoddy construction over almost 3 years and from what I have seen from those ground floor windows (it would be like living in a store front) crappy finishing.
Buyer beware, I guess.
Posted by: Action Jackson at December 7, 2007 11:57 AM
Anybody know if the developer is?
Posted by: cwh812 at December 7, 2007 12:05 PM
I was at a housing subdivision down South once that was called Chardonnay. Seriously.
Posted by: guest at December 7, 2007 12:39 PM
And isn't there one called the "Liberty" on 22nd Street in Greenwood Heights?
Posted by: Action Jackson at December 7, 2007 12:57 PM
"A plumber was apparently doing work on Apartment 1C"
Mr. B, doing work at 4:00 AM?
Posted by: Action Jackson at December 7, 2007 12:58 PM
Now, that's a dedicated plumber.
Posted by: Rehab at December 7, 2007 1:01 PM
Gee, what happened to the days of DOB regulations such as permissible work hours of 7:00AM-6:00PM?
Aw heck, who's going to know?
Posted by: Action Jackson at December 7, 2007 1:40 PM
"his torch ignited some pieces of insulation in the wall. "
Is insulation usually flammable? Yikes!
Posted by: guest at December 7, 2007 1:54 PM
Dunno. If I were looking at a place here I would feel more comfortable knowing that it was human error rather than mechanical. In fact, I did look at a place here over the summer. For new construction it wasn't that bad, but I didn't like the windows.
Posted by: guest at December 7, 2007 3:14 PM
I can't believe there even WAS insulation in the walls!
Posted by: guest at December 7, 2007 4:44 PM
"I can't believe there even WAS insulation in the walls!"
My point exactly! (posted earlier)
But what's new, wait, that's the point.
Posted by: Action Jackson at December 7, 2007 5:09 PM
Another great name in the condo scene is "The Shang-ri-la", on 6th ave., and to connect that to this thread, they had their own "fire sale" just this week. Wonder if anyone bit?
And a ditto on the windows for the Sweet Sixteen, I walk my dogs by there all the time and can't imagine why anyone would want to own a place designed like that. It's not as if the view is a serene lake front or something that would be more suitable to have as a full on view 24-7.
Posted by: wagongrrl at December 7, 2007 5:47 PM
The ground level units are ridiculous. They should be retail as I cannot imagine anyone paying to live in them.
Posted by: guest at December 7, 2007 6:18 PM
"The ground level units are ridiculous. They should be retail"
Perhaps they can be "live/sell" condos?
Bake goods, cheese, micro brew beer growlers, knitting fare?
How about take-out?
Posted by: Action Jackson at December 7, 2007 8:49 PM
Actually the ground floor units are below ground. You enter at street level onto a small landing and then there are a few steps that drop down to the kitchens in front. Once inside, your eye level is about crotch level to that of the man on the street.
Posted by: guest at December 8, 2007 7:37 AM
We really liked these condos, some of the best finishes and layouts we have seen, the name actually made sense to us but being in the design industry maybe were biased, but we liked it. The pricing was the only issue that kept us back, but we did get a call about a price decrease last week. I haven't heard what the deal is with the fire but when we peeked inside we saw no evidence of a fire, but some of the crew was cleaning up. We'll have to try to take another look this week.
Posted by: guest at December 8, 2007 9:37 AM
This looks like mid-90s European social housing, including the finishes. The brownish aluminum cladding on the outside is just ridiculous.
I've been inside. Most apartments were really narrow. There are a few in the back with a very small living room space but an interesting mezzanine space and view of the Verrazano bridge. I considered them for one second, but it was just too ugly on the outside and the floorplan too weird on the inside.
Posted by: guest at December 8, 2007 9:55 AM
"the name actually made sense to us but being in the design industry maybe were biased, but we liked it"
Heh heh. Transparency thy name is shill.
Posted by: guest at December 8, 2007 12:15 PM
I crack up every time I read this bit on the listings: "Karl Fischer Architects were inspired by the chateau’s of France..."
Posted by: guest at December 8, 2007 2:53 PM
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