Commune of Creative Types' in the Burg is Emptied Out
Most of the dailies have stories this morning about the sad, curious evacuation of 475 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. The FDNY designated the building a fire hazard on Sunday, forcing hundreds of tenants out of their apartments on one of the coldest days of the year. The FDNY said the building needed to be evacuated…
Most of the dailies have stories this morning about the sad, curious evacuation of 475 Kent Avenue in Williamsburg. The FDNY designated the building a fire hazard on Sunday, forcing hundreds of tenants out of their apartments on one of the coldest days of the year. The FDNY said the building needed to be evacuated because its owner, Nachman Brach, was storing flammable materials in the basement that he used to power a matzo bakery. More than 200 tenants lived and worked in 475 Kent despite the fact that the building doesn’t have a C of O for residential use, and now many of them are suddenly homeless. The Times describes the former pasta factory as a commune of creative types, and quotes residents who are confused and angry about the evacuation. One of those residents, Betsy Kelleher, said the timing of the evacuation was suspicious because there’s a pending court decision that might result in all the units being rent-controlled. They want to clean everyone out and then convert them into expensive condos, said Kelleher. The building had been lived in for a decade. According to Am New York, the first artists who leased spaces at 475 Kent had been evicted from illegal loft conversions in Dumbo.
For Evacuated Building’s Tenants, an Uncertain Future [NY Times]
475 Kent Avenue Evacuated, Due to Numerous Violations [Gothamist]
Residents of B’klyn Loft Evicted for Fire Code Violations [AM New York]
475 Kent Update: Holdout Says It’s “Creepy as Hell” [Gowanus Lounge]
A Holdout Stays in Brooklyn Loft [Metro]
Photo by i’m just sayin’.
@9:23 1/22
Re-read my post.
Clearly I was not referring to war photogs or NatGeo, or the contributions of either.
My point is that the “Artists” residing in this building are doing so under the same motivation that the landlord is kicking them out. MONEY.
They didn’t move into that dump to be “the catalyst for billions$$$ of economic development”. They moved in because it was cheap and your pilars of photojournalism can (or could) swim in all the toxic chemicals they wanted without any regard (I’m assuming, maybe the neighbors knew and didn’t mind) to the people living/working next door.
As WBer said, “Unfortunately, too right. Of course the people living there knew they were in an “illegal” (i.e., non-residential) building. But beyond that, no one on this board seems to know the least thing about the building or its residents.
I know a number of people who live there, and all of them are indeed artists – actual working artists and professionals making money from their craft. Most of the folks I know there are long-established artists, not the young hipsters everyone wants to pile on. Most of them rely on their art or craft as their primary sources of income, and most of them were in true live-work situations.”
So it was good while it lasted and they (both landlord and illegal residents) are lucky they didn’t blow anyone up.
And by the way I also make my living with my BFA & MFA, because I choose not to be a slob doesn’t mean I am not making, “a positive difference in the world through…” my ART. Nor does it mean I don’t know what I am talking about.
So after you finish biting your pillow, go comb your hair and put some clean closes on.
Nachman Brach has been screwing people for years. The only difference is that he has now trained his fire outside the eruv not within it.
I know he/she/it doesn’t really merit a response but … DEAR 10:22 ONE artist in the building who made a contribution to anything … ? How about a couple floors filled with Magnum photographers – they covered a few wars for you – or some of the most famous Photographers at National Geographic, a little publication you might have heard of. Got it? hard working real people trying to make a positive difference in the world through their ART, yes, art, it’s a real job. I guess lashing out in any wrong direction is more fun than knowing what your talking about or having anything interesting to say.
This is truly messed up and to be honest there are a ton of building out there in Billyburg without Co’s honestly not to get racial but at times some hasidic Jews feel that they can get away with doing things like this knowing full well that this is a crime. Just my opinion
That should be DOB, not DPB. Dyxlexic fingers.
Preservationista
While everyone may have known they were renting illegally, it seems to me that everyone else – DPB, FDNY, etc knew, too. You don’t have to be a detective to look at this building, with its brightly lit windows all hours of the day and night, and curtains and plants in the windows, to know that people are living here, and have been for some time.
I agree the timing is fishy. Are the conditions on a cold, crisp night more condusive for spontaneous combustion of wheat dust than waiting 6 hours, and coming in the morning? Who dropped a dime on the matzo factory? It has also been there forever. It was a lot of drama designed to show the tenants the party’s about over, and the landlord wants to condo his building. Frankly, he’s about a year or so late, the boom is over. He may as well leave those people alone. At least they were paying some kind of rent, and were not complaining about less than ideal conditions.
I also think tv has an unerring ability to find the worst representative of an affected crowd to interview. They always find the snottiest, stupidest and most unitelligible people to talk to.
Preservationista
9:51… Is the FDNY really on the payroll of developers and landlords? Any proof on that one?
Dude, you got robbed. I’ve got fake Cartiers for $75. Call me.
If I buy a Cartier off a street person for $100 and later the cops say it’s stolen and take it from me, no one is going to feel sorry for me.
They knew they were renting illegally. Duh.