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’.
I would have more sympathy if people weren’t raising kids in illegal residential conversions.
NEXT.
i hope the landlord loses tons of money greedy sob.
As expected: general asshattery and douchebaggery from the majority of commenters on this site.
Just a bunch of pavlovian chumps salivating at every morsel of a chance to bash the vague and illdefined ‘hipster’. Fuck off. Just, fuck right off.
Looks like the Fire Marshals are on a roll. We live nearly at the 10 Grand Ave loft conversion and the Marshals just knocked on our door to check out our space. The are is the processof knocking on every door. They were the same group that evicted the Kent loft. I asked if our building was clear of fire hazards and he gave us the ok.
Interesting timing since I talked to our building owner this morning to ask about how ‘legal’ our building was after the Kent news and he assured me that the Fire Department comes around all the time and check if the building is to Fire code.
10:22
what an A-hole 9:51 is. “lazy” creative types are the catalyst for billions$$$ of economic development and are the people who made it possible for development to happen in places like Williamsburg. Funny how the FDNY and the landlords never cared before these neighborhoods got expensive.
You in that building would you like me to thank? Maybe there is one Artist in that building that has made or will made a contribution to ANYTHING.
Artists (true artists) are craftsmen, not idiots in skinny jeans with paint on them convincing themselves that living in a dump means something.
Its all about money. The artists are there because its cheap, the landlords let them live there because they have to operate a building and real estate is a good investment, deveoplers come in and make condos. All Money deals.
By the way Blind person 10:22, same thing happened in Soho, Carroll Garden, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, DUMBO, Green Point, and Bushwick and Coney Island are next. You can say the same for every neighborhood in NYC. Harlem?
Stay home and push your stroller waiting for your tenants to pay the rent (which you jacked up last year).
“It was so disgusting. It really made any viewer have zero sympathy.”
Any viewer?? Is that so??
How about just keeping the judgements to yourself and not including a few million other people?
You may be heartless, but we all aren’t.
Some truly vile comments on this thread.
10:35, you are close! Seems nobody else picked up the bit in the Times story about a pending court decision where it is/was expected that the units would be deemed rent controlled/stabilized. I watched this on the news last night and wondered whether the landlord was behind it, LOL. You know the tenants didnt call. The FDNY didnt suddenly decide on their own to pay them a visit either. Hmm.