Cover-Up At The Washington Condos?
The Washington Condominium at 35 Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights has been a long time coming. As blogger Set Speed first mentioned on Friday, the building finally got its Temporary C of O last week after countless delays. His announcement stirred up a rather contentious debate in the comments section over some of the quick-fixes…
The Washington Condominium at 35 Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights has been a long time coming. As blogger Set Speed first mentioned on Friday, the building finally got its Temporary C of O last week after countless delays. His announcement stirred up a rather contentious debate in the comments section over some of the quick-fixes that the developer has performed to get around the FAR calculation problems of Mezzaninegate, photos of which mysteriously arrived in our mailbox yesterday. The most bizarre? He reportedly has reduced the ceiling height in the mezzanines from seven feet to five feet (the point at which the space is considered storage rather than living space) by building up plywood platforms (see photos). One commenter on the Set Speed thread said that DOB was okay with this approach and that it had happened at a number of the other Scarano projects with similar violations. Can this be true? Does anyone know if using plywood like this is up to code? Seems like the Fire Department might have something to say about it. If all is not on the up-and-up, what does this mean for the building and those who already handed over their down payments last year?
The Washington Gets Temporary C of O? [Set Speed]
Checking In on the Washington Condos [Brownstoner] GMAP
Uhh.. as a lawyer, all I can say is you would be an idiot not to pull your deposit. Even if it means renting for the rest of your life. If you can’t sell what you bought, believe me, you didn’t buy anything to begin with.
What says you, Aguayo + Huebener? Surely you are reading these posts…
Do you care about your reputation in the Brooklyn housing market?
This whole debacle is unbelievable – how is this able to happen, and Scarano is still allowed to practice as an architect? I think that everyone involved, other than us buyers, has behaved reprehensibly on this project. We are buying homes, here, which no one (Fischman, Scarano, Aguayo + Huebner, their lawyers, etc.) seems to give a shit about. This is my (and my husband’s) first apartment! It’s supposed to be an exicting moment in our lives. Instead, its making me want to rent forever. Especially since we have lost more than two years waiting for an apartment — we’ve missed good prices, low interest rates. At this point, we will have to rent forever, if we pull out. Thanks a lot, Fischman and co.
I had the same initial reaction as some others re: fire safety. But the space is not like a cock croft (architects, am I using the right word) that connects from space-to-space, so I am not sure how dangerous it really is. Of course, fill the void with fire retardant foam and it would be (1) safer, (2) harder to just rip out later, and (3) unsuitable as a fort for the really intrepid young folk. (“Billy, where are you going with the Sawzall?”)
12:45, I feel for you. But maybe it’s all cool – contact someone at the FDNY and see if this is OK. Maybe it is. If not, you’d probably have a pretty valid reason to get your deposit back.
i bought a unit and i’m goddam scared now. for safety reasons and for the fact that i might lose my life savings. Isaaac Fischman , go to HELL.
Just love the comment about the kids sawing into the platform and building a fort. I think there are parental controls for that. Or, if there aren’t, there should be. I know I managed somehow to keep my kids from drilling into the stair to my sunken living room….
Well then, 11:55, if “this is happening in all scarano buildings”, then the word needs to get out that buyers are facing potential permanent C of O challenges so that they don’t get ripped off.
And maybe our electeds need to change the rules about this kind of nonsense. (How about dismantling some of these buildings at developer’s expense to send a message?) And where the hell is the fire dept. in all of this? If the broker gets a statement from the FDNY that the plywood platforms are cool it would quell my concerns. But I bet everyone involved in this deal is pretty upset that it’s public info now.
“Way to fuel a fire.” Yeah, 11:55, you’re not kidding, are you? I’m inclined to believe that the plywood layer “platform boxes” are incredibly dangerous. You’re enclosing oxygen in a flammable box that you can’t get access to. LOTS of things could spark a fire under there that might smolder for a while and spread underneath the platform.
If I were a buyer with money down I would contact a new attorney ASAP to get my money back.
I have a suspicion that people posting such negative and ludicrous remarks are in someway involved with the project that can’t sell one unit across the street at 647 Washington. No one here really knows what they are talking about. And yes I did buy a unit at The Washington!!