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Brownstone in Park Slope Sells for Half Off
A brownstone at 501 Garfield Place in Park Slope has sold for $800,000, half off its former sales price, according to a tipster who alerted us to the sale. The property was not listed, but formerly changed hands for $1.6 million in 1996, according to PropertyShark. It was an arm’s length transaction, said our informant, who added that he thought the banking crisis in Cyprus might have had something to do with the sudden drop in value. Formerly a Building of the Day, the brownstone was designed by Montrose Morris and located just a stone’s throw from Prospect Park on one of the best blocks in Park Slope. Inside, the brownstone’s original details were perfectly preserved, with new mechanicals, including updated kitchens and baths. “The marble went on for acres and the back wall was blown out with custom-made iron windows,” said someone who saw the interior before the sale. ”I’m not sure if the seller got in over his head with the renovations — or maybe conforming to Landmarks’ requests for historic windows was the last straw.” A real estate agent we contacted who requested anonymity, said “In 30 years of selling real estate, I’ve never seen anything like this. Run for the hills.” We are looking into emigrating to Canada. Does anyone know more?
04/01/2013 11:30 AM
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An Update on the Crown Heights Church Cornice
The metal cornice is gone at the the St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church on the corner of Classon Avenue and Sterling Place in Crown Heights. It was removed with a crane a few days ago, after pieces were dangling off the building due to the storm. A reader in last week’s post noted that the damaged tower has been in poor shape for several years, due to constant problems with pigeons and some grating that fell on the roof. We hear that this parish does not have lots of money, and this particular structure isn’t under landmarks protection. What a shame. See a few more shots after the jump.
Roof Collapsing at Crown Heights Church [Brownstoner] (more…)
11/05/2012 10:30 AM
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Roof Collapsing at Crown Heights Church
This was the scene this afternoon at the St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church on the corner of Classon Avenue and Sterling Place. Police taped off the entire block and looked like they were waiting for the portion of the roof to fall off. This church was built in 1905; the twin towers have clock faces on the right and the carillon of ten bells on the left. It’s the right tower with the structural damage. See a BOTD post here. See more pictures after the jump, including a dramatic shot of the collapse happening on the other side of the building. (more…)
10/31/2012 2:40 PM
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Sandy Brings Down Burg Construction Site
All day the blog Thought Catalog’s been live-blogging Hurricane Sandy, and they captured this collapse at a construction site on the corner of Union and Frost in Williamsburg. Around 10am this morning around two-thirds of the site had collapsed. The witness said it sounded “like someone dropped a thousand pots and pans outside.” Yikes. Anyone else out there have stories of precarious construction sites in the borough? Some scaffolding collapsed around the Amalgamated Warbasse Houses on the Brighton Beach/Coney Island border, according to Sheepshead Bites.
Hurricane Sandy Liveblog [Thought Catalog] via Curbed
Photo via Thought Catalog
10/29/2012 2:40 PM
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A Building Collapse on Irving and Putnam
71 Irving Place, the three-story apartment building on the corner of Putnam Avenue, gave way over the weekend. The side of the building facing Putnam crumbled on Sunday; luckily it was unoccupied. (Residents were living there until last week.) The tipster who sent in the above photo said the building sold a week ago. It was on the market for $975,000, and the copy touted it as a gut renovation, not a teardown. If the building is actually demolished for a new development, it will join the supportive housing project on Putnam and the condo building on Irving as new builds going up in that area of Clinton Hill. GMAP
10/01/2012 9:30 AM
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420 Melrose Residents Spill on Their Situation
Late last week we posted about the residents of a damaged Bushwick building unable to return to their apartments; since then a resident shared more details about the situation there. Eight families vacated the building at 420 Melrose more than one month ago after nearby excavation caused cracks in the building. The photo above is from inside the apartment building, where looters have gone through the resident’s stuff and stolen some of it. The resident who started the 420 Melrose Twitter account explains the situation:
“We were never given an opportunity to go in and get things. The landlord is still holding our security deposit and half a month’s rent hostage while we all try and figure out individually where to live… Some people have moved to new places, some people are staying with friends, some people have just moved back home to places like Texas. For a move in, it seems like the landlord doesn’t have as much interest in getting us back in as he has in flipping the building and jacking up the rent.
As for the DOB, we’re filing tort claims, which you have to file if you want to pursue any action at any time against a city agency, but generally we have been redirected to any number of city agencies that were only able to individually offer us space in a no-kitchen, shared bathroom homeless shelter. That’s really about all the city offers in terms of protections for people that this kind of thing happens to. DOB seems pretty mum right now in general. It’s impossible to get a straight answer in regards to timelines.”
This past Sunday the DOB allowed residents to enter the building and they will return next weekend to take everything besides furniture, as the building is not stable enough to remove it. The tenants have hired a lawyer and are doing a fundraiser in the next week or so to cover the retainer costs, which we will keep you updated about.
420 Melrose Place Residents Still Homeless [Brownstoner]
Bushwick Buildings Evacuated After Cracks Appear [Brownstoner]
09/25/2012 9:30 AM
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Family of Worker Killed in Carlton Mews Collapse Located
The widow of the 67-year-old construction worker who was killed in the Carlton Mews collapse has been located and is living in the New York City area, according to the Daily News. Professional Grade Construction, the company that employed Winston Gellett, said it would pay for the funeral costs, but then reneged on the plan after it discovered widow Deanna Simms had hired a lawyer, Simms said. She was forced to take out a loan for $11,500 to cover the costs of a grave, a casket, minister, musician, hearse and various other items, she added. Gellett emigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica in the 1980s, according to Simms. He worked in construction, and also at Kennedy Airport as a porter. His children live in Jamaica and will be unable to attend the funeral, she said, which takes place at 4 p.m. today at the Interboro Funeral Home, 544 Evergreen Ave., in Bushwick. The burial is set for Saturday at Rosehill Cemetery in Linden, N.J. In 2006, Gellett’s son Winston Jr. was shot during a robbery in Queens and left paralyzed.
Widow Says Construction Company Broke Promise [NY Daily News]
BREAKING: Major Building Collapse on Carlton Avenue [Brownstoner]
09/21/2012 10:00 AM
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420 Melrose Place Residents Still Homeless
More than one month ago, residents evacuated two apartment buildings in Bushwick after nearby excavation work caused dangerous cracks in the building. Turns out eight of those families have not been allowed to return and are not aware of any repair work happening at the building. Bushwick Daily reports that one of the damaged buildings — 420 Melrose Street — now has its own Twitter account and guest column at the blog Bushwick Nation. (The Twitter account states: “I’m an apartment building in Bushwick, Brooklyn, that got damaged by the Procida Construction Company. All my residents are now homeless with no answers! WTF?!”) Apparently neighbors have snuck into the evacuated building and stolen from the evacuated residents. The Twitter was last updated last week and it appears the residents are forming a tenant’s association. The DOB still holds a full vacate order on the property.
420 Melrose Is Still “Broken” but Is Now Tweeting and Blogging [Bushwick Daily]
Bushwick Buildings Evacuated After Cracks Appear [Brownstoner]
Photos via Bushwick Nation
09/21/2012 9:00 AM
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Neighbors Concerned About Ongoing Work at Carlton Site
A reader wrote in Saturday morning after spotting construction workers at the Carlton Mews townhouses, a development project slapped with a stop work order by the Department of Buildings after a construction accident killed one of the workers last week. He said:
Despite the stop work orders for all five buildings, the crew is out working with large ground moving equipment today (they also do not have work variance permits). I called 911 and the police responded… Immediately when I arrived with the police, the guy in the picture started questioning me, asking “What’s wrong? Who are you?” I told him that I was a neighbor and that there were stop work orders that he was violating. He basically responded “No, it’s fine.” I told him “Are you kidding me? One of your crew members died this week. This is ridiculous.” Incredibly, he responded by waving me off, indifferently.
The worker on site also argued with the police, and our tipster had to leave so does not know how it was resolved. It is unknown at this point whether the work being done was legal and related to securing the site post-collapse or whether it was unsanctioned. There was some repair work on the collapsed building last week.
BREAKING: Major Building Collapse on Carlton Avenue [Brownstoner]
09/17/2012 11:00 AM
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Building Collapse Contractor Overseeing Too Many Sites?
The construction superintendent at Carlton Mews, where a construction worker died in a collapse Monday, was handling job safety at 14 construction sites at the same time — four more than the city allows without special permission, according to a New York Daily News story. Yesterday, the DOB issued 10 violations at the site of the collapse, 231 Carlton Avenue. The contractor, Professional Grade Construction, has 24 jobs going on in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan. Owner Michael Rubinstein is listed as construction superintendent at 14 of those buildings. The city has issued stop work orders at four of the company’s sites in the last year, according to the Daily News. Meanwhile, Council Member Letitia James has asked for help finding relatives to claim the body of Winston Gillette, the 67-year-old construction worker who died in the collapse.
Contractor in Fatal Collapse Over Limit Watching Safety at 14 Sites [NY Daily News]
Aftermath at Carlton Mews Collapse Site [Brownstoner]
Major Building Collapse on Carlton Avenue [Brownstoner]
09/12/2012 9:30 AM
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Aftermath at the Carlton Mews Collapse Site
This was the scene this morning at the Carlton Mews Townhouse project, a day after one of the townhouses collapsed, killing one construction worker. Today workers were carefully removing the collapsed debris from the townhouse frame. Otherwise, as the NY Post wrote this morning, DOB officials issued a full stop-work order at the site while they investigate. The collapse happened after the third story of the building was overloaded with cinder blocks. Two workers, William Gillett, 67, and Clayton LaBoard, 43, fell to the basement and were covered by debris. Gillett passed away and, as of yesterday, LaBoard was in critical condition.
09/11/2012 12:00 PM
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BREAKING: Major Building Collapse on Carlton Avenue
There’s been a major building collapse at the construction project 231 Carlton Avenue, aka the Carlton Mews Townhouses. Based on what we gathered on site, excessive weight caused the roof to collapse which in turn knocked out the lower floors as well. The side walls and facade were still standing. We were also told that two construction workers came out of the collapse and NY1 currently is reporting that the two workers pulled out are in critical condition. Carlton and Dekalb Avenue are shut down and filled with rescue workers. Another tipster said this of the buildings: “Note also how warped the roof frame (of aluminum) is to the left of the one that gave; they probably overloaded the one on the right.” UPDATE: One worker now reported dead. Also, more photos on Gothamist.
09/10/2012 10:17 AM
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Bushwick Buildings Evacuated After Cracks Appear
A bunch of news outlets are reporting on two apartment buildings in Bushwick evacuated yesterday due to construction down the block. According to DNAinfo.com, the buildings at 418-420 Melrose Street suddenly developed cracks running up their sides and fronts, which residents believe were caused by excavation work at nearby construction site 424 Melrose. Complaints were filed with the Department of Buildings Monday and Tuesday before 911 was called yesterday. One resident tells the NY Daily News, “The vibrations were intensive. It was very aggressive. The door wouldn’t close due to settling.” After the evacuation, half the residents were able to return to their homes by evening; the rest had to stay elsewhere after taking a few belongings. The Red Cross provided emergency housing for 10 of the residents last night. The DOB issued five violations to the construction company at 424 Melrose Street.
Cracks Along Brooklyn Building’s Wall Prompts Evacuations [DNAinfo]
Brooklyn Apartment Buildings Evacuated after Construction Next Door Makes Structures Unsafe [NY Daily News]
Bushwick Building Evacuated Because of Cracked Foundation [DNAinfo]
Photo via DNAinfo
08/16/2012 9:30 AM
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Construction Accident at Domsey’s Building on Wythe
A reader sent in this photo of a construction screwup at Wythe Avenue and South 9th in Williamsburg. This is the old Domsey’s Warehouse, bordered by Wythe, Kent, South 9th and South 11th. This July work started up at the site and the DOB approved permits for a partial demo. Our tipster thinks the damage came from an attempt to demolish the top floor while leaving the first floor intact, but this NBC report makes it seem like demolition had not started yet. The building was vacant and no one was injured in the collapse. See two more photos after the jump. GMAP (more…)
08/08/2012 2:40 PM
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Christ Church Steeples to Come Down
There’s more bad news from Cobble Hill’s Christ Church, which was damaged in a lightning storm and consequently killed one neighborhood resident. Now it looks like the four steeples rising above the bell tower will have to be torn down, The New York Times reported. Yesterday, one steeple already came down (they are about 70 feet high!) and the others are expected to be removed in the next few days. The lightning also caused roof damage, threatening the interiors as well. A church official said it is not yet clear whether insurance will cover a full restoration. The Gothic Revival church was designed by Richard Upjohn, creator of Trinity Church in Manhattan. According to the Times, the church was “damaged by a fire in 1939 and all but six windows of the nave were destroyed, including a Tiffany window depicting the Adoration of the Magi. The church, though, was rebuilt and designated a city landmark in 1969.”
Lightning Shatters Tower at a 19th-Century Church [NY Times]
Lightning Kills Man, Damages Church in Cobble Hill [Brownstoner]
Lightning Hit Brooklyn Last Night, Caused One Fatality [Brownstoner]
08/01/2012 9:15 AM
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Lightning Kills Man, Damages Church in Cobble Hill
A reader sent in the above photo of the damage caused by lightning at Cobble Hill’s Christ Church last week. She notes: “The church is basically unusable. There is a huge hole in the roof and one of the stained glass windows was destroyed. The preschool has ‘VACATE’ notices on the doors.” Cobble Hill Blog reported over the weekend that Clinton Street from Degraw Street to Kane Street and Kane Street from Strong Place to Court Street are closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic until at least Thursday due to the unstable building. The lightning also caused some of the church scaffolding to collapse, killing 61-year-old resident and Assistant Attorney General Richard Schwartz. NY1 reporter Vivan Lee was also attacked (but not hurt) when reporting on the story last week. Sad news all around.
Clinton and Kane Streets Closed Because of “Unstable” Christ Church [Cobble Hill Blog]
Lightning Hit Brooklyn Last Night, Caused One Fatality [Brownstoner]
07/30/2012 9:30 AM
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Collapsed Carroll Gardens Home Is Almost Gone
As of yesterday afternoon, this was the state of 241 Carroll Street, the Carroll Gardens brownstone that collapsed at the beginning of this month. The 95-year-old 19th century building is on its way to being fully demolished. It’s believed the collapse was caused by the demolition, sometime in the 1950s, of the adjacent brownstone to make way for P.S. 58. Without the support of its “sister building,” No. 241 slowly became unstable. None of the tenants were hurt despite the whole side of the building coming down.
Details on Carroll Street Collapse [Brownstoner]
241 Carroll Street Partially Collapses, Demo to Come [Brownstoner]
07/25/2012 11:00 AM
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Details on Carroll Street Collapse
The Times has some more information–or at least a theory–about the causes of the building collapse at 241 Carroll Street in Carroll Gardens eight days ago:
The cause of the collapse is under investigation, but Mr. Lynch [That's Tim Lynch, head of DOB's forensic engineering unit] said last week that one possible factor was the empty space next to the wall that came down. Nineteenth-century town houses, he explained, were generally built in clusters of three or four homes called sister houses, and the adjoining structures were a central part of what kept them standing. While the brownstone to the left of 241 Carroll Street still stands, the one to its right was torn down in the mid-1950s to make way for the school, Public School 58. Over time, very slowly, the lonely brownstone without its right-hand neighbor might have become unstable. “It’s closing in on 200 years old, so it has performance issues like the rest of us,” Mr. Lynch said. “You’ve got to remember, Napoleon wasn’t dead that long when they built this thing.”
The four-story brownstone is currently being taken down by hand. The family, which paid $1.54 million for the property in 2004, plans to build a new house which will be constrained by a 50-foot height restriction but now landmarking rules.
Amid Collapsing Walls, a Bit of Luck for 3 Families [NY Times]
241 Carroll Street Partially Collapses, Demo to Come [Brownstoner]
Photo from Pardon Me For Asking
07/10/2012 9:00 AM
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241 Carroll Street Partially Collapses, Demo to Come
At around 1:30 a.m. this morning, the four-story townhouse at 241 Carroll Street collapsed, leaving the side of the building open but none of the residents of the three apartments hurt. (This place was House of the Day in June 2008.) According to report on WABC, more than two dozen neighbors were also evacuated on the block between Smith and Court streets. “Officials have made the decision to completely demolish the 95-year-old building,” said WABC, “but there are some concerns about the effect that would have on the neighboring buildings.” The photo above was sent in by a reader but you can see a slideshow of the collapse here.
07/02/2012 9:00 AM
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578 Carlton Avenue Extension Demo’d after Collapse
A tipster just sent in the post-demolition photo of 578 Carlton Avenue that you see above. As previously reported, construction workers recently finished demolishing the rear extension of the house after it partially collapsed due to construction on the neighboring home at 580 Carlton. As for 580 Carlton, which is now undergoing a major renovation, the DOB issued a Stop Work Order on July 12th. The customizable home is on the market for $2 million. You can see all the photo documentation of the demolition after the jump.
Partial Building Collapse at 578 Carlton Avenue [Brownstoner]
Work Begins on Prospect Heights’ Hard-Knock 580 Carlton [Brownstoner]
Customize 580 Carlton Ave. for $2 Million [Brownstoner]
580 Carlton [Official Site]
Renovations Planned for 580 Carlton Avenue [Brownstoner]
Something’s Afoot at Dilapidated Prospect Heights Home [Brownstoner]
HOTD: 580 Carlton Avenue [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark (more…)
06/25/2012 2:40 PM
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morralkan
May 21, 2013 | 09:56 AM