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January 22, 2008
‘Commune of Creative Types’ in the Burg is Emptied Out
Most of the dailies have stories this morning about the sad, curious evacuation of 475 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. The FDNY designated the building a fire hazard on Sunday, forcing hundreds of tenants out of their apartments on one of the coldest days of the year. The FDNY said the building needed to be evacuated because its owner, Nachman Brach, was storing flammable materials in the basement that he used to power a matzo bakery. More than 200 tenants lived and worked in 475 Kent despite the fact that the building doesn’t have a C of O for residential use, and now many of them are suddenly homeless. The Times describes the former pasta factory as “a commune of creative types,” and quotes residents who are confused and angry about the evacuation. One of those residents, Betsy Kelleher, said the timing of the evacuation was suspicious because there’s a pending court decision that might result in all the units being rent-controlled. “They want to clean everyone out and then convert them into expensive condos,” said Kelleher. The building had been lived in for a decade. According to Am New York, the first artists who leased spaces at 475 Kent had been evicted from illegal loft conversions in Dumbo.
For Evacuated Building’s Tenants, an Uncertain Future [NY Times]
475 Kent Avenue Evacuated, Due to Numerous Violations [Gothamist]
Residents of B'klyn Loft Evicted for Fire Code Violations [AM New York]
475 Kent Update: Holdout Says It's "Creepy as Hell" [Gowanus Lounge]
A Holdout Stays in Brooklyn Loft [Metro]
Photo by i'm just sayin'.
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Comments
The most reassuring thing is that 90% of these people won't -really- become homeless. Mommy and Daddy will pay for their next apartment, too. At worst, it was a cold train ride back to the suburbs.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:04 AM
So easy to be snide when it's not you.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:14 AM
Damn what a shame they were kicked out.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:14 AM
9:14
I would see the warning signs of living in a place like that from 1,000 miles away. Sure there was an element of surprise but it couldnt have been a 100% surprise considering the situation.
Listen, I've lived in dangerous buildings, I've lived in way worse neighborhoods, I've lived in illegal sublets and I've lived in illegal non residential places. Hell, I lived in a squat for almost a year, too.
And each time I did such things, I knew exactly what I was getting into and knew the risks involved.
Boo hoo.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:24 AM
Funny, there's a huge article in the NYT about the proliferation of illegal boarding houses, but Brownie is not posting that link. Curious?
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:40 AM
Who cares! Not relevant to this forum. This website is about $3 million brownstones. Let's stay focused on what matters!
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:43 AM
It is relevant - give it one year before the building becomes luxury condos and we can all moan about how overpriced it is.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:46 AM
I don't know when you dopes are going to get it, Landlords and developers (or the FDNY, and if you don't think they are on the payroll you really are blind) DO NOT CARE about you or "creative types" or illegal squaters. They always have and always will care about money and the amount they are pissing away by letting a bunch of stinky hipsters and burnouts live in a fire bomb waiting to happen.
The story would be much different if the building went up in flames along with a bunch of "creative types".
Just because you have declared yourself a "creative type" doesn't really account for much, in fact most times just means your a lazy scumbag.
Posted by: Gross at January 22, 2008 9:51 AM
why kick them out on the coldest night of the year?
asshats.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:52 AM
9:04 = spoiled rich kid in denial.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 10:17 AM
Just because you have declared yourself a "creative type" doesn't really account for much, in fact most times just means your a lazy scumbag.
what an A-hole 9:51 is. "lazy" creative types are the catalyst for billions$$$ of economic development and are the people who made it possible for development to happen in places like Williamsburg. Funny how the FDNY and the landlords never cared before these neighborhoods got expensive.
Do you enjoy living in a hip neighborhood, but like your creature comforts? Thank an artist.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 10:22 AM
hey, what about this jerk of an owner who KNOWS he's illegally renting out units for residential use, just biding his time until he can cash in, and probably does not keep the building up to code AND has the chutzpah (totally appropriate word here) to store flammable materials just under these people's noses. He should be ashamed.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 10:30 AM
10:17...
"9:04 = spoiled rich kid in denial."
If ONLY ~~that~~ were my situation!!!
Nope, parents dead. No one but me driving this ship.
I think "spoiled rich kids in denial" is a phrase only a spoiled rich kid in denial would write. Think about it.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 10:30 AM
These kinds of landlord-incited mass evictions have been happening all over the neighborhood for years. They fill the building up with illegal tenants, call the FDNY to have them evicted (easier than going through the courts), wait a month and then fill them up at higher rents for a couple years, rinse, repeat. Property owners like Brach are the scum of the earth.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 10:35 AM
9:52 - Thank You.
In 2000 after the evictions in DUMBO caused outrage (people cared back then, I guess), Guiliani said there would be no more such evictions.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 10:38 AM
Yep, the standard scenario is that the building owners court live/work renters like artists. They know it is illegal but they do so when the neighborhood or economy is in a downturn and they either can't fill the building with commercial tenants or can charge more as illegal residential. They can get away with violations and dangerous conditions because the tenants don't want to draw attention to themselves. (Although in this case, it seems like it was an "open secret" for about ten years that this was a residential building. When the neighborhood/economy is booming, all of a sudden the city agencies start to care about violations. (Tipped off? Perhaps yes, perhaps no. It is harder to ignore these buildings when the area is popular and there is lots of development and legal conversion going on.) And then the landlord decides to go legit, which often means emptying those "illegal tenants" and turning condo.
It seems to me that the landlord makes out fine throughout this timeline.
And I actually do agree that is you rent an illegal space you can't expect to have a right to it forever. But having to leave eventually when your (shady) lease runs out is different from being put out on the street in the middle of winter with no warning.
And you artist haters really don't know what you are talking about. I'm sure you could find some bratty trust fund kids in any building like this, but also plenty of people with full-time jobs who work hard and pay taxes. Or those who do more-than-fulltime work as freelancers who are not lazy at all but are simply trying to make ends meet while...oh yes, horrors, dong something creative.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 10:59 AM
"Do you enjoy living in a hip neighborhood, but like your creature comforts? Thank an artist."
Actually you can thank the gays first. Then the artists.
Gays are almost always the first to "discover" a neighborhood.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:06 AM
"The most reassuring thing is that 90% of these people won't -really- become homeless. Mommy and Daddy will pay for their next apartment, too. At worst, it was a cold train ride back to the suburbs."
This is absolutely right. The night of the fire, I was watching the coverage on NY1. They interviewed a young "creative type" woman who lived there and asked her if she was ok and if she had someplace to go. Her response: she scowled and barked at the reporter, "OF COURSE." It was so disgusting. It really made any viewer have zero sympathy.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:09 AM
It is a real pain in the neck to follow the rules and to live in a building legally and to make sure the building is well-managed and that all work is done with the proper permits etc etc. And the reason most people put up with that, is not that they are stupid, it is to protect themselves from a nightmare like this.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:15 AM
way to blame the victims. have any of you actually been in this building? how many of you have ever rented an apartment and made sure before moving in that the building is all up to code? i doubt anybody who lived in this building ever thought anything was amiss. the landlords are probably rubbing their hands together in anticipation of the luxury condos in their future.
and 11:09, when you get thrown out of your building with no warning, let's see how civil you are when somebody shoves a camera in your face and basically asks if you have any friends.
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at January 22, 2008 11:25 AM
the landlord is a piece of shit. end of story.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:34 AM
11:09 is worse than the landlord, in my opinion.
talk about disgusting.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:39 AM
alot of mean mother fuckers around here
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:41 AM
"way to blame the victims. have any of you actually been in this building? how many of you have ever rented an apartment and made sure before moving in that the building is all up to code? i doubt anybody who lived in this building ever thought anything was amiss."
Come on. New Yorkers are generally smart, and I'm most relatively intelligent people would know the difference between a building that was generally "up to code" an illegal conversion. If it wasn't clear right away, it would certainly become obvious over time. I'd be willing to wager most of those tenants knew what they were getting into. And as 10:59 points out, I bet they represent a diverse group (this is NYC, people). I'm sure most didn't think they would get kicked out on Jan. 21, but they took that risk by living there. It's a cruel world, but life is all about calculated risks. They lost this round.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:47 AM
10:35, you are close! Seems nobody else picked up the bit in the Times story about a pending court decision where it is/was expected that the units would be deemed rent controlled/stabilized. I watched this on the news last night and wondered whether the landlord was behind it, LOL. You know the tenants didnt call. The FDNY didnt suddenly decide on their own to pay them a visit either. Hmm.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:47 AM
Some truly vile comments on this thread.
Posted by: Johnny at January 22, 2008 11:51 AM
"It was so disgusting. It really made any viewer have zero sympathy."
Any viewer?? Is that so??
How about just keeping the judgements to yourself and not including a few million other people?
You may be heartless, but we all aren't.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 11:52 AM
10:22
what an A-hole 9:51 is. "lazy" creative types are the catalyst for billions$$$ of economic development and are the people who made it possible for development to happen in places like Williamsburg. Funny how the FDNY and the landlords never cared before these neighborhoods got expensive.
You in that building would you like me to thank? Maybe there is one Artist in that building that has made or will made a contribution to ANYTHING.
Artists (true artists) are craftsmen, not idiots in skinny jeans with paint on them convincing themselves that living in a dump means something.
Its all about money. The artists are there because its cheap, the landlords let them live there because they have to operate a building and real estate is a good investment, deveoplers come in and make condos. All Money deals.
By the way Blind person 10:22, same thing happened in Soho, Carroll Garden, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, DUMBO, Green Point, and Bushwick and Coney Island are next. You can say the same for every neighborhood in NYC. Harlem?
Stay home and push your stroller waiting for your tenants to pay the rent (which you jacked up last year).
Posted by: Gross at January 22, 2008 11:58 AM
Looks like the Fire Marshals are on a roll. We live nearly at the 10 Grand Ave loft conversion and the Marshals just knocked on our door to check out our space. The are is the processof knocking on every door. They were the same group that evicted the Kent loft. I asked if our building was clear of fire hazards and he gave us the ok.
Interesting timing since I talked to our building owner this morning to ask about how ‘legal’ our building was after the Kent news and he assured me that the Fire Department comes around all the time and check if the building is to Fire code.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 12:01 PM
As expected: general asshattery and douchebaggery from the majority of commenters on this site.
Just a bunch of pavlovian chumps salivating at every morsel of a chance to bash the vague and illdefined 'hipster'. Fuck off. Just, fuck right off.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 12:08 PM
i hope the landlord loses tons of money greedy sob.
Posted by: armchairwarrior at January 22, 2008 12:08 PM
NEXT.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 12:12 PM
I would have more sympathy if people weren't raising kids in illegal residential conversions.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 12:24 PM
i am not so sure that this building was all hipsters and artists. think it was a mix of working professionals too.
in any case, you are in an illegal space renting there, and are to be blamed directly for participating in an illegal act.
wise up....
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 12:31 PM
12:31--that is the most sane and rational post on this thread.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 12:35 PM
i hope you get fined for jaywalking, 12:31.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 12:36 PM
12:08 - "Just a bunch of pavlovian chumps salivating at every morsel of a chance to bash the vague and illdefined 'hipster'."
Unfortunately, too right. Of course the people living there knew they were in an "illegal" (i.e., non-residential) building. But beyond that, no one on this board seems to know the least thing about the building or its residents.
I know a number of people who live there, and all of them are indeed artists - actual working artists and professionals making money from their craft. Most of the folks I know there are long-established artists, not the young hipsters everyone wants to pile on. Most of them rely on their art or craft as their primary sources of income, and most of them were in true live-work situations.
So most of them are both homeless and out of work. And the people who worked for them are also out of work.
Posted by: WBer at January 22, 2008 12:39 PM
any reason why my comment about wondering about the future of real estate blogs would be deleted?
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 12:46 PM
ok, there were 200 people and some motzo, but the tenants were the ones forced to move. Why not force the motzo to move?
Posted by: slick at January 22, 2008 1:39 PM
10:30, how does having both parents passed away mean you're not a spoiled rich kid. Enjoy your inheritance.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 1:42 PM
12:31 here. and if i was fined for jaywalking, i'd suck it up and pay it. living in an illegal apartment is not a minor offense. it is a serious f'u to the laws and people of this city.
thru my biz, i was associated with a group of artists renting LEGAL commercial space in Dumbo. They all lived elsewhere. sure this was a financial stretch for them, but they did it.
it's an affront to the law abiding when others think they deserve some special get out of jail free card for their illegal behavior.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 1:55 PM
1:42
Inheritance?
The only thing I inherited from my Dad was was cholesterol levels. And his dogs.
You guys are funny...obviously my comments must have hit home.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 2:00 PM
If I buy a Cartier off a street person for $100 and later the cops say it's stolen and take it from me, no one is going to feel sorry for me.
They knew they were renting illegally. Duh.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 2:03 PM
Dude, you got robbed. I've got fake Cartiers for $75. Call me.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 2:12 PM
9:51... Is the FDNY really on the payroll of developers and landlords? Any proof on that one?
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 2:16 PM
While everyone may have known they were renting illegally, it seems to me that everyone else - DPB, FDNY, etc knew, too. You don't have to be a detective to look at this building, with its brightly lit windows all hours of the day and night, and curtains and plants in the windows, to know that people are living here, and have been for some time.
I agree the timing is fishy. Are the conditions on a cold, crisp night more condusive for spontaneous combustion of wheat dust than waiting 6 hours, and coming in the morning? Who dropped a dime on the matzo factory? It has also been there forever. It was a lot of drama designed to show the tenants the party's about over, and the landlord wants to condo his building. Frankly, he's about a year or so late, the boom is over. He may as well leave those people alone. At least they were paying some kind of rent, and were not complaining about less than ideal conditions.
I also think tv has an unerring ability to find the worst representative of an affected crowd to interview. They always find the snottiest, stupidest and most unitelligible people to talk to.
Preservationista
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 2:17 PM
That should be DOB, not DPB. Dyxlexic fingers.
Preservationista
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 2:19 PM
This is truly messed up and to be honest there are a ton of building out there in Billyburg without Co's honestly not to get racial but at times some hasidic Jews feel that they can get away with doing things like this knowing full well that this is a crime. Just my opinion
Posted by: mysideofstuy at January 22, 2008 4:03 PM
I know he/she/it doesn't really merit a response but ... DEAR 10:22 ONE artist in the building who made a contribution to anything ... ? How about a couple floors filled with Magnum photographers - they covered a few wars for you - or some of the most famous Photographers at National Geographic, a little publication you might have heard of. Got it? hard working real people trying to make a positive difference in the world through their ART, yes, art, it's a real job. I guess lashing out in any wrong direction is more fun than knowing what your talking about or having anything interesting to say.
Posted by: guest at January 22, 2008 9:23 PM
Nachman Brach has been screwing people for years. The only difference is that he has now trained his fire outside the eruv not within it.
Posted by: guest at January 23, 2008 6:48 AM
@9:23 1/22
Re-read my post.
Clearly I was not referring to war photogs or NatGeo, or the contributions of either.
My point is that the "Artists" residing in this building are doing so under the same motivation that the landlord is kicking them out. MONEY.
They didn't move into that dump to be "the catalyst for billions$$$ of economic development". They moved in because it was cheap and your pilars of photojournalism can (or could) swim in all the toxic chemicals they wanted without any regard (I'm assuming, maybe the neighbors knew and didn't mind) to the people living/working next door.
As WBer said, "Unfortunately, too right. Of course the people living there knew they were in an "illegal" (i.e., non-residential) building. But beyond that, no one on this board seems to know the least thing about the building or its residents.
I know a number of people who live there, and all of them are indeed artists - actual working artists and professionals making money from their craft. Most of the folks I know there are long-established artists, not the young hipsters everyone wants to pile on. Most of them rely on their art or craft as their primary sources of income, and most of them were in true live-work situations."
So it was good while it lasted and they (both landlord and illegal residents) are lucky they didn't blow anyone up.
And by the way I also make my living with my BFA & MFA, because I choose not to be a slob doesn't mean I am not making, "a positive difference in the world through..." my ART. Nor does it mean I don't know what I am talking about.
So after you finish biting your pillow, go comb your hair and put some clean closes on.
Posted by: Gross at January 23, 2008 9:20 AM
Gross...what a drag it must be to be in your early thirties and realize that you have become such a fucking tool. I don't envy you one bit because you clearly are a lonely, frustrated, "superior" asshat.
Making a living off your bfa and mfa is a long way off from making a living off of your art. You have failed to live up to all your art school dreams. Go fuck yourself.
Posted by: guest at January 23, 2008 9:51 AM
Clearly GROSS you don't know what your referring to. Can you get over your random assertion/ obsession that the residents of that got thrown out wear skinny jeans and don't shower. ???
Are you such an isolated bitter never has been that you can't see a forced evacuation of a building is a BAD thing ?
Yes, and toxic photo chemicals, maybe you also don't realize we've all moved in to the digital age.
I think it's time for you to clean up your own sad self, and maybe grow up - your over due on that as well.
Posted by: guest at January 23, 2008 11:09 AM
not everyone in there was a trust fund child, jerks... i used to live there - rest assured my poor parents weren't kickin' down my rent, and there were PLENTY of self-employed, hard-working artists in that building when i lived there - many of them becoming VERY successful - fashion designers, national geographic photographers, artists with huge frescos in JFK airport, successful whitney shows, published authors with novels and several harpers articles underneath them, etc...
so, jerk, have some compassion - or maybe you're just bitter.
Posted by: guest at January 23, 2008 1:06 PM
Thanks for the life lessons and resumes...
All of you are correct I am a bitter failure and the only pleasure in my life comes from this blog...
Everywhere you go there you are...
So I guess I will put on my asshat and go.
Posted by: Gross at January 23, 2008 4:39 PM
If the hazard is cleaned up they should be allowed to return to their homes. This isn't the old USSR yet- is it?
Posted by: guest at January 25, 2008 8:00 AM
Where is all of this ridiculous, ignorant, animosity coming from toward artists, and how did we suddenly become wearers of skinny jeans who don't comb our hair, have trust funds, and who are lazy?
Prepare to be schooled:
1. This building has been occupied by artists for 10 years. 10 years ago, you couldn't pay people to live in many neighborhoods in Brooklyn. No "gentrifiers" wanted to live in sketchy 'hoods, with no services where transportation was iffy and getting mugged was a concern. Artists who need space typically move to or rent space in these types of neighborhoods because we need large spaces and lots of natural light, and many at the beginning of their careers are in the low to middle income bracket. Hence, a perfect place for artists are cheap, abandoned or under-utilized loft spaces. When neighborhoods were or are not gentrified (as Kent wasn't back then), there is no interest from NYPD or NYFD in terms of what's going on in any building. There is a verbal agreement between building owners and tenants to mind their own business, use the spaces as they see fit, pay their rent on time, and everyone wins. Artists get big, airy, light spaces from which to conduct their business, and the owners get the empty spaces rented.
2. I do not have a single friend who is an artist who is lazy, unwashed, or not working their ass off. No one I know is asking for a citizens award for being an artist, but to make these outlandish assumptions about our lifestyle and work ethic is fucked up. I have never not been balancing working 2 or 3 jobs AND spending my nights and weekends working on creative projects, from the time I graduated college, until the present, in my 39th year. Currently that involves working as a commercial photographer, so not only do I shoot, I also have to take care of running my business, promoting my business, and troubleshooting computers and photo equipment. I also exhibit my fine art photography, so that involves shooting "for fun" in my free time, retouching, uploading images to my web site, but also seeking places to exhibit my work, making prints for shows, and doing research. This involves far more time and work, and requires far more discipline and expertise in many different skills than people who show up to 1 job in an office, 5 days a week.
And do I wash? I'd better, because no client is going to take someone seriously who shows up to a job or art opening looking or speaking like a schlub. Skinny jeans? Fucking Walmart sells skinny jeans now, who cares what people wear?
3. The situation at Kent is a prime example of the turning of the tides in NYC, in that money is the prime concern, and as soon as a neighborhood has reached that level where white, middle class, bourgeosie types want to move in, these phony fire concerns get called in to the NYFD and suddenly artists are "breaking the law" for living in buildings, and in neighborhoods, that no one gave a shit about 10 years ago.
Do any of you really think anyone deserves to be locked out of their home with no warning if they have been obeying the rules of that building and paying their rent?
How's about we do a safety test of some buildings in your neighborhood and lock you out if there's some stuff stored in your brownstone basement that's flammable?
Posted by: guest at January 25, 2008 5:25 PM
Betsy Kelleher here.
I have been misquoted by the New York Times.
I never said there would be a possibility of "rent control",
that's ludicrous - I said "rent stabilization" because it's been
known to happen many times in defacto, interim, multiple dwellings like this one in a residential zone. This would be justice and a step toward possible future loft law protection if the new bill on the table in Albany gets passed next time around. The place is only a disaster zone because some people with a lot of power in the city of New York have economic reasons for deciding it to be so - this week - after 10 years of 250 people living above a powder keg - give me a break.
What's been going on here is criminal, I just wonder when the city and the State of New York are going to get around to deciding that a legitimate code of ethics and law should apply to landlord/tenant and real estate issues. Is this the time of CromwelI? feel like I'm living in a Fascist state when it comes to real estate in New York City. Pretty soon there will be nothing soulful left of the cultural community in this city... How do the developers, the landlords and the officials who take the bribes live with themselves?
Posted by: stableartist at January 26, 2008 1:35 AM
...anyone ever read "War In The Neighborhood" over at 475 Kent? They didn't even put up a little fight...people living in that great a building (and it is great - I've been to a few BBQs) that don't barricade themselves in floor by floor and wait for the cops to come crashing in with the tank deserves to be thrown out.
Where's the spirit people? Ahh...that would be the apathy of Generation Me at work...
If the squatters on 10th St. in the early 90's had enjoyed easy access to the internet and cellphones, they never would have been thrown out. The pictures of the police wheeling in the tank and hovering overhead with the helicopter would have made national news, at the least. And you think Bloomberg would let it get out of hand in an election year? Hardly. The police brutality seen in the Tompkins Square riots would never had happened on his watch - and the residents of 475 would have won.
And if they didn't - at least they would know that they gave it their all.
It's bad enough when the city tries to kill what makes New York great, but it's even worse when the residents let it happen. Hello, nail in the coffin...
Posted by: guest at January 29, 2008 12:14 AM
12:14
Yeah what happened to the fight?
My friend Ken took the pictures of the helicopter hovering over AVE C those punkers were hardcore! To all you kids in Bushwhick: I say start your "barricade plan now"
Williamsburg has gone soft, flaccid. This place used to be great. Even the hipsters are leaving. Its all strollers and people shopping for shit they don't need.
I live 20 years in not-up-to-code-building
I wouldn't exactly call it "illegal"
But
"How ya gonna go?" I say they will have to take me out in a box.
Who knows?
Posted by: guest at February 8, 2008 11:26 PM
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