« Weekend Events Open Thread »

September 25, 2009

DOB Shuts Down Sweater Factory

That Greenpoint Blog whose name cannot be spoken brings us news that another illegal artist loft building has been shut down by the Department of Buildings. This time, it was a building at 239 Banker Street known as the Sweater Factory. The beleaguered past of the Sweater Factory, used as residential lofts, includes violation of its zoning as a transient hotel, lack of certificate of occupancy, stop work orders, violations of stop work orders, a $5,000 fine from the DOB, etc. Yesterday afternoon the DOB took off the kid gloves and vacated the building. According to That Greenpoint Blog (TGB), the fire department was not present, and the DOB's vacate order declared that "occupancy is perilous to life." The Red Cross was on hand to help find housing for displaced tenants and their pets, and TGB mentioned that the landlord was on site as well. GMAP P*Shark DOB
The Sweater Factory Gets DOBed Again [NY Shitty]
Greenpoint Conversion Mystery on Messerole Ave [Curbed]

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/11523

Comments

the only thing worse than being kicked out of your illegal artist loft is being kicked out of your illegal artist loft by someone who can't spell "affected"

Posted by: joe_the_bummer at September 25, 2009 9:11 AM

I'm not sure this rates as a "disaster." Isn't that what the red cross is for?? Not some hipsters that made bad choices trying to scam cheap housing???

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at September 25, 2009 9:14 AM

I see you changed your text...for a second there it said "According to NewYorkShitty..." :) I was gonna ask why you named the blog "whose name cannot be spoken!"

Posted by: InsertSnappyNameHere at September 25, 2009 9:19 AM

More importantly, what does this all mean for the cashmere industry??

Posted by: Biff Champion at September 25, 2009 9:26 AM

More like, what does this mean for the fleece industry?

Posted by: vinca at September 25, 2009 9:40 AM

hopefully, biff, not curtains for cashmere.

Posted by: brighton beoch at September 25, 2009 9:43 AM

This is no shocker. Heather on NYShitty brought up umpteen times that this place had no C of O. A simple google search of "sweater factory lofts" would probably uncover this.

Due diligence hipsters!!

Posted by: dirty_hipster at September 25, 2009 9:44 AM

"hopefully, biff, not curtains for cashmere."

Re-write:

"hopefully, biff, not meat curtains for cash."

Posted by: Biff Champion at September 25, 2009 9:56 AM

i hear illegal space divisions included sheetrock covering sprinkler heads and all that kind of stuff
why i won't help people find 'live/work'
this vacate trend will accelerate in prep for condo upswing in 3-4 years... caveat emptor

Posted by: BK realestate veteran at September 25, 2009 9:58 AM

Ha. My old roommate, who is/was a shitbag, moved here touting "yeah, it's great, we like, don't have to pay rent."

True, homeless people don't pay rent.

I live in a live/work building with a, er, sketchy CO, but everything is up to code and an application has been in (for 9 years) for an amendment to the CO, thus, we have never had problems.

I have been to this building, and in short, I'm amazed it took this long for a forced vacation.

Posted by: zachgee at September 25, 2009 10:04 AM

okay and why is the red cross aiding a bunch of trust fund brats on taxpayer nickel? cant they just get daddy to send them money for a new deposit overnight via western union? NO Sympathy for these type of people, at ALL

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at September 25, 2009 10:15 AM

eeeewww, biff, you are disgusting. but we already knew that. : )

Posted by: brighton beoch at September 25, 2009 10:17 AM

"Greenpoint Conversion Mystery on MESSerole Ave"

What an appropriate typo.

Posted by: dirty_hipster at September 25, 2009 12:01 PM

How do some of you know the racial-socio-economic makeup of the entire tenant population of this building? Oh wait, you don’t.

Chill out re: the “trust fund hipsters got what they deserved” … they’re still homeless tonight. Sucks regardless.

Posted by: Mr Joist at September 25, 2009 1:33 PM

Mr Joist, you've GOT to be kidding, right?

*rob*

Posted by: Butterfly at September 25, 2009 1:45 PM

These guys don't deserve to absorb the blow for what the landlord was to greedy to do correctly....here's a post on the Ninjalist blog for the tenants: http://ninjalist.blogspot.com/2009/09/if-you-are-being-forced-from-sweater.html

Posted by: loftninja at September 25, 2009 3:44 PM

the "racial-socio-economic makeup" of the building is obvious. It's 4:30. If they were evicting anyone but affluent white people, it would be on CNN by now.

Posted by: joe_the_bummer at September 25, 2009 4:35 PM

but yes, they should give them some time to move out.

Posted by: joe_the_bummer at September 25, 2009 4:44 PM

actually, y'all, the 'racio-socio-economic makeup' of this building is not obvious. nor is it nearly as homogenous as it apparently seems easy for you to imagine. nor were the tenants actively engaged in renting illegal lofts. in fact, when leases were signed (and as advertised on craigslist and CORCORAN, as they continue to be), they were presented as entirely legal loft rentals.

yes, one should check that one's soon-to-be apartment has a valid c of o.

yes, one should check that one's landlord hasn't actually been sued several times in the recent past.

yes, one should do an in-depth google search on one's soon-to-be apartment.

how many of you have done that for EVERY APARTMENT YOU'VE EVER RENTED IN NEW YORK?

seriously. lesson learned but perhaps you should check your scorn and stifle your assumptions before you broadcast them quite so ignorantly.

Posted by: bassgrrl at September 25, 2009 6:53 PM

rob-

Not all hipsters are trustafarians. Trying to find a cheap place to live where you can also make work is not 'scamming'. How many 20yos (or any other age group) research their landlord's history, when they're just psyched to find any place at all?

I know plenty of struggling artists out there living wherever they can, even in their cool clothes. And yes, finding yourself suddenly kicked to the curb is a disaster. Don't be a jackass.

Posted by: bfarwell at September 26, 2009 6:15 PM

This building has a long history with the housing courts in Brooklyn. The previous landlord of the building evicted the artists who lived there before and many years in court. The building has bad karma. When the area was rezoned this building was not. It is part of the commercial and manufacturing zone. $2300 a month for these lofts with no heat or hot water is no bargain. The days of cheap lofts is over. For the past 25 years artists in the area have been battling their landlords......save your money and energy and look elsewhere.

Posted by: exbrooklyner at September 27, 2009 4:08 PM

The Red Cross goes to all residential fires and vacates in NYC--something over 2500 disasters last year in the 5 boroughs and three upstate counties. You may not think an apartment fire or a vacate is a disaster, until it happens to you or someone you love.

We (I'm a volunteer) are _not_ funded by tax dollars--the organization is chartered, but not funded, by the federal government, but some chapters get some local money.

We don't discriminate on zip code, type of building, or demographics. We go, and evaluate the need.

Posted by: oshma at October 4, 2009 8:55 PM

Don't ever rent from this guy. He is brooklyns biggest slumlord. He has taken thousands of dollars from tenants that now do not have homes.

Max Stark
Menachem stark

543 Bedford Ave - Suite 302
Brooklyn NY 11211

Meserole Factory LLC
*138 Ross Street
Brooklyn NY 11211

Posted by: artman at October 7, 2009 2:48 PM