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’.
1:42
Inheritance?
The only thing I inherited from my Dad was was cholesterol levels. And his dogs.
You guys are funny…obviously my comments must have hit home.
12:31 here. and if i was fined for jaywalking, i’d suck it up and pay it. living in an illegal apartment is not a minor offense. it is a serious f’u to the laws and people of this city.
thru my biz, i was associated with a group of artists renting LEGAL commercial space in Dumbo. They all lived elsewhere. sure this was a financial stretch for them, but they did it.
it’s an affront to the law abiding when others think they deserve some special get out of jail free card for their illegal behavior.
10:30, how does having both parents passed away mean you’re not a spoiled rich kid. Enjoy your inheritance.
ok, there were 200 people and some motzo, but the tenants were the ones forced to move. Why not force the motzo to move?
any reason why my comment about wondering about the future of real estate blogs would be deleted?
12:08 – “Just a bunch of pavlovian chumps salivating at every morsel of a chance to bash the vague and illdefined ‘hipster’.”
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 most of them are both homeless and out of work. And the people who worked for them are also out of work.
i hope you get fined for jaywalking, 12:31.
12:31–that is the most sane and rational post on this thread.
i am not so sure that this building was all hipsters and artists. think it was a mix of working professionals too.
in any case, you are in an illegal space renting there, and are to be blamed directly for participating in an illegal act.
wise up….