David and Goliath Square off at 233 Schermerhorn

We’ve seen the issue of illegal mechanical demolition crop up several times in recent months in our coverage of development in the South Slope. (Mechanical demolition, because of the potential threat it poses to neighboring structures, requires a permit from DOB.) Well, it seems that one of Forest City Ratner’s contractors, Solomon Oliver Mechanical Contracting, allegedly used a backhoe to demolish the buildings at 620 and 622 Pacific Street last June when it was supposed to dismantle the one- and two-story commercial structures by hand. To fight the $2,000 fine, FCR trotted out one of, if not the, top land-use lawyers in the city. Norman Oder tagged along and gives a fascinating and entertaining play-by-play on the Atlantic Yards Report today:

Before the hearing was called, the parties waited nearly 90 minutes in the 11th floor waiting room at 233 Schermerhorn Street, a space with stiff plastic seating and photocopied posters on the walls. Then eight people squeezed into the office of Administrative Law Judge Helaine Balsam, forming a semicircle of two rows each. It was a far cry from the expansive modern federal courtroom in which Braun argued an Atlantic Yards case five weeks earlier. The group, besides the judge and Braun, included two representatives of Solomon Oliver Mechanical Contracting, the firm hired for the demolitions; three staffers from the Department of Buildings (DoB); witness David Gochfeld, whose fiancée lives at 624 Pacific Street; and this reporter. Braun wore a suit; everyone else dressed in either business casual or construction casual. To create a record, Balsam deployed a cassette tape recorder of some vintage.

Read on for the parsing of DOB codes and a case of mistaken Daniel Goldstein identity.
FCR Sends Top-Gun Lawyer to Brooklyn [AY Report]
Photo copyright David Gochfeld