October 13, 2009

Concerns over BQE Lead Paint Removal

Some residents of Carroll Gardens and Redhook have expressed concern recently over the large green tanks that have appeared in the past few weeks at the Kane, Union, Sackett, and Summit Street bridges over the B.Q.E. The tanks are containment units for lead paint and other hazardous materials that are produced in the cleaning of the bridges, and some locals are worried about possible health risks. Lost City, for example, noticed a "sudden bad air quality" and pointed out that the containers are unprotected and exposed in public spaces where children could endanger themselves; City Room, from The New York Times, noticed "duct-tape patching" on these ancient-seeming containers. The Word on Columbia Street shares the public's concerns, but also points out that the NYC Department of Transportation uses a set of procedures approved by national, state, and city health and environmental organizations such as the EPA and the New York State Department of Health. Kieran Aherns, who was contracted for the job, told The Word that the process of sandblasting and vacuuming the waste is performed with constant air quality monitoring, but a noticeable dust in the air has left residents unconvinced.
Are B.Q.E. Lead Shacks Poisoning Carroll Gardens? [Lost City]
The Mystery of Those Metal Units over the B.Q.E. [City Room]
Lead Paint Removal on Hicks Street Bridges [TWOCS]
Photo by The Word on Columbia Street

Posted by jscheff at 11:01 AM | Comments (2)
Categories: Carroll Gardens, Construction Sites, Red Hook

August 19, 2009

Worker Death in Park Slope

A 42-year-old construction worker from Poland died at the site of a renovation project in Park Slope late yesterday afternoon, City Room reported. The accident occurred at 438 12th Street, part of the Ansonia, a former clock factory, when scaffolding collapsed; the men were performing brickwork. Two others, who were left hanging by their safety harnesses from the scaffolding, survived with minor injuries; all three worked for a company called Nova Restoration. As the small photo, taken an hour ago, shows, the collapsed scaffolding is still in place. GMAP
Worker Falls Four Stories to His Death When a Scaffold Collapses [NY Times]
Worker Is Killed in Park Slope Accident [City Room, NYT]
Worker Killed In Park Slope Scaffolding Collapse [Gothamist]
Scaffolding Collapse at Park Slope's Ansonia [Curbed]
Drama After Death Fall [NY Post]
Top photo by C. Morrissey via Gothamist

Posted by jscheff at 9:00 AM | Comments (2)
Categories: Construction Sites, Park Slope

August 14, 2009

Revere Sugar Demolition Continues

Developer Joe Sitt (of Coney Island fame) and his company, Thor Equities, recommenced demolition of the former Revere Sugar Refinery in Red Hook this week. As the Brooklyn Paper reported, Sitt had already demolished most of the refinery in 2006, amongst the protests of preservationists, in order to build a mega-mall with BJ's Wholesale Club as the anchor, but left standing a brick warehouse at the edge of the property. Thor Equities explained: "Thor’s original intention was to adaptively reuse the Revere Sugar factory warehouse as part of a new development, but after further analysis, the engineers found structural problems with the building making it unstable and potentially dangerous, and we were forced to proceed with taking the structure down." We stopped by yesterday to check on the progress. GMAP
Joe Sitt Sours on Revere Sugar Mini-Mall [Brooklyn Paper]
Red Hook Revere Sugar Teardown Renewed [Curbed]
Plans for Red Hook Mall at Refinery Site [Brownstoner]

Posted by jscheff at 10:01 AM | Comments (4)
Categories: Construction Sites, Red Hook

August 3, 2009

Flexible Standards at 5 Roebling

Construction standards? Who needs those? Certainly not the owners of 5 Roebling, another condo-turned-rental under construction. Local resident Judy McGuire let out a screed last week against the incompetence of the builders, brought on by a recent scaffolding crash. But she notes that this is only one item on a long list of follies and violations, such as when the builders "yanked out" the cable and telephone lines for the neighborhood. GMAP
It's 8pm, Do You know Where Your Scaffolding Is? [Bad Advice]
Photo by missmouseybrowns on Flickr

Posted by jscheff at 10:01 AM | Comments (4)
Categories: Building Collapse, Construction Sites, Williamsburg

July 6, 2009

Williamsburg Ranks #1 in City's Stalled-Site Sweepstakes

This morning the Post has a story on the construction-site blight that has pockmarked Brooklyn. DOB stats show Brooklyn has the most stalled construction sites of any of borough, with Williamsburg/Greenpoint leading the tally among neighborhoods. The DOB has identified 63 stalled sites in Brooklyn, 18 of which are in Williamsburg-Greenpoint. By contrast, Manhattan has a total of 39 stalled sites, the Bronx and Queens each have 14, and Staten Island has 13 all together. Residents and the DOB are concerned about safety and quality-of-life issues associated with the stalled sites. "The problem we're having now is that we're starting to get squatters in these buildings and lots," said Williamsburg neighborhood activist Philip DePaolo, who compared the current-day situation in the neighborhood to the Bronx in the late '70s. "Blight draws crime, and if you have blocks and blocks of vacant lots with no people, that creates a problem." In February the DOB created a stalled-sites unit to try and keep the lots safe while nothing is doing. The City Council, meanwhile, has drawn up a bill that would give developers incentives—like granting unlimited extensions on permits—for maintaining safety at their no-go lots.
'Lots' of Woe in W'Burg [NY Post]
Photo by danwitz.

Posted by Gabby at 10:30 AM | Comments (17)
Categories: Construction Sites, DOB, Development, Williamsburg

May 26, 2009

Downtown Tower Has Been Hit With 12 SWO's

The Daily News looked over DOB records for the under-construction, 51-story tower at 111 Lawrence Street and found that the city has issued a dozen stop work orders on the site since January of last year. Last week, a construction worker fell three stories at the building and sustained minor injuries. There are currently 11 open violations on the job and contractors owe $78,200 in fines, according to the story. At this point, the tower must be getting pretty close to being topped out.

Posted by Gabby at 10:45 AM | Comments (10)
Categories: Condos, Construction Sites, Downtown Brooklyn

November 19, 2008

The Ghosts of 525 Clinton

One unfortunate byproduct of the building boom: more construction fatalities — 27 this year so far, and they've continued despite some management changes at the DOB. WNYC told the story of one of those unlucky souls yesterday. Jose Palacios, a Mexican immigrant, died when the scaffold beneath him collapsed at (former advertiser) The Collection, a luxury condo in Clinton Hill (that had been a 100-year-old brick house, home to the mentally disabled, before being razed to make way for glass and steel). He toiled on a day when the winds climbed to 30 miles an hour. Turns out faulty equipment was the culprit; they had some of the right hardware, but some was missing or just not strong enough. "They had the correct ties, and for whatever reason, they didn’t have the tool—the correct tool to install those ties," said OSHA's Richard Mendelson. Some say the company that employed him, Bell Tower, wouldn't stop the work; others say Bell Tower ordered them to cease, but the workers kept going. (Conveniently, Bell Tower president Christopher Page seems to have absconded, disconnecting his phones and taking off for Wisconsin). Part two of the story aired this morning.

The Cost of Doing Business Part I [WNYC]
The Cost of Doing Business Part II [WNYC]
Scaffold Collapse To Blame at 525 Clinton [Brownstoner]
BREAKING: Worker Killed at 525 Clinton Avenue [Brownstoner]
Photo by threecee.

Posted by lisa at 9:31 AM | Comments (7)
Categories: Clinton Hill, Construction Sites

June 12, 2008

Blood on the Hacks: Developer Charged With Manslaughter

The Brooklyn DA's office charged an East New York developer with manslaughter yesterday for a construction-related death on his property. (Photo is not of the site in question.) A worker died at William Lattarulo's construction site in March after earth and debris suffocated him. Lattarulo was the site's de facto contractor, supervising work and saving himself $90,000, according to the Times. The builder had been warned by other workers and a contractor that the deadly trench was unstable and “Essentially, his retort was, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ ” says Michael F. Vecchione, chief of the Brooklyn district attorney office’s rackets division. The DA's office says the charges against Lattarulo are unrelated to the recent crane accidents in Manhattan that've resulted calls for reform at the DOB. A lawyer for Lattarulo says the city is trying to assign blame to builders rather than examining its own shortcomings. "If the city put as much energy into inspecting the jobs properly as they do into rallying the support of the press and shifting liability off themselves, perhaps we wouldn’t be here today,” said the lawyer. “An architect designed the job. Engineers designed the job. Plans were filed.”
Manslaughter Charge in Trench Collapse [NY Times]
Photo by daltonrooney.

Posted by Gabby at 9:00 AM | Comments (10)
Categories: Construction Sites, DOB

April 30, 2008

Development Watch: Love Lane Mews with Skylight Views

Construction seems to be moving forward at Love Lane Mews, five former parking garages that are being converted into 38 apartments and two townhouses in the Brooklyn Heights historic district. This building, the only one on the east side of the street, would be two townhouses (with skylights?), according to an older Brooklyn Eagle article. And we just like the hand-painted sign at the construction site to the right. As one of the few new construction projects (aside from the outer shell) in this quiet, landmarked neighborhood, which do you think will come easier: sales, or finding a parking space in the Heights on weekdays?
Love Lane Mews Floorplans Revealed [Brownstoner]
Parking Crunch Worsens as Garage Closes [Brooklyn Eagle]
Heights Conversion to be Called Love Lane Mews [Brooklyn Eagle]

Posted by sarah ryley at 12:00 PM | Comments (2)
Categories: Brooklyn Heights, Condos, Construction Sites, Historic District

April 23, 2008

Caton Avenue Condo Plans For Sale: Flatbush Edition

Yet another Caton Avenue property is for sale with approved plans for condos, this one in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Last week, we wrote about 417 Caton Avenue, on the market for $1.35 million, and Caton On the Park (technically on Caton Place, which is really close to Caton Avenue), where construction on 107 apartments abruptly stopped with 40 percent of the work done. This newest property has plans to build 27 apartments and 24,400 square feet, only a few blocks away from Prospect Park. Asking price is $1.83 million, not much more than the $1.2 million purchase price two years ago. Think this one will be able to find a buyer?
Work Stops At Caton On the Park [Brownstoner]
417 Caton Avenue Going For Another Flip [Brownstoner]

Posted by sarah ryley at 11:01 AM | Comments (7)
Categories: Condos, Construction Sites, Development, Flatbush

April 14, 2008

Welcome to the Wild, Wild West

The Daily News had an article yesterday about how many Brooklynites are terrified of safety conditions (or lack thereof) at construction sites. Some choice takeaways:

-Last month the DOB inspected conditions at 305 construction sites in Brooklyn, finding violations at 87 of them and putting stop work orders on 43 of them.

-Last year Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster told the Daily News that she crosses the street to avoid walking under scaffolding.

-Many of the sites shut down in last month's sweep were in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

The quote of the article belongs to Assemblyman Jim Brennan, who's been pushing for DOB reform for a long time now: "It's a reactive response. Of course it's good for them to do a sweep like this, but the current process of supervision and enforcement is broken."

Yup.
Residents Nervous Over Building Sites [NY Daily News]
Brennan on the Frontlines of DOB Reform Fight [Brownstoner]
Photo by Daniel A. Norman.

Posted by Gabby at 10:00 AM | Comments (3)
Categories: Construction Sites, DOB