Mystery Buildings - 2nd St 4th Ave + 15th St betw 7th

anonymous · October 2006

Anyone know what the story is with:

SW corner of 2nd Street and 4th Ave - some sort of two-story commercial building is being constructed, with an entrance on 2nd Street... any idea what that is going to be?

15th Street between 7th & 8th - four/five story new red brick construction with balconies that has been complete for over a year now, but permit stickers are still on the door, and no activity... whats' the story - no COO?

dailyheights · October 2006

pics?

8thandprez · October 2006

The west side of 4th Ave btw 1st and 3rd is owned by ConEd.

friendlypitbull · November 2006

And the building is a ConEd office building - which is taking FOREVER to finish.

lostingreenwoodhts · November 2006

15th btwn 7th/8th Ave's before the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA). Hardship case I think, thus no CofO. Now the rest of the block, oy, don't get me started.

anonymous · November 2006

The 15th street buildings were just reviewed by the BSA in October and scheduled to reappear this month. The two buildings on 15th were part of the same project as the sister building on 14th street. The builders claim plan approval was granted for all three buildings at once, as one continuous project. The CoO was not issued because the DoB claimed no approval was ever issued for the 15th street buildings.

I think all but three units are sold, only a few buyers have backed out. Original completion date told to the buyers was spring 2005.

The strange thing about this project is that the SWO was issued October 2005 and it's just now going before the BSA. Doesn't seem like the builders are in and hurry to get it done.

erikka · November 2006

mhl11215 wrote: The 15th street buildings were just reviewed by the BSA in October and scheduled to reappear this month. The two buildings on 15th were part of the same project as the sister building on 14th street. The builders claim plan approval was granted for all three buildings at once, as one continuous project. The CoO was not issued because the DoB claimed no approval was ever issued for the 15th street buildings.

I think all but three units are sold, only a few buyers have backed out. Original completion date told to the buyers was spring 2005.

The strange thing about this project is that the SWO was issued October 2005 and it's just now going before the BSA. Doesn't seem like the builders are in and hurry to get it done.

They have been building SO MANY of those kinds of buildings around here lately---the shady, fly-by-night kind where they won't finish until units are sold (and enough capital is raised to continue buidlings). And they're all ugly and poorly made--how absurd is it to plop a high rise condo in the middle of a block made up of two-story houses? yeah--most of the buildings are not in any hurry to get done, which is strange given winter is on the way. Some of them have people working a few days a week...

I would be pissed if I had bought a condo and was still waiting to move in many months after the promised date.

caaahyoko · November 2006

Yeah, I've been amazed at how they'll just totally stop working on the buildings in the area. I live next to the building being torn down on the corner of 4th and 15th--they worked everyday for months until they backed into the fence in our backyard with a container. Our landlord called 311 and the DoB came and found all sorts of violations. I thought they would give up for a while, but they actually fixed them quickly. Then, just when it looked like they were ready to start working again, they totally stopped the demolition, and haven't been working for about a month. Who knows? :roll: Maybe they are out of money.

lostingreenwoodhts · November 2006

caaahyoko wrote: Yeah, I've been amazed at how they'll just totally stop working on the buildings in the area. I live next to the building being torn down on the corner of 4th and 15th--they worked everyday for months until they backed into the fence in our backyard with a container. Our landlord called 311 and the DoB came and found all sorts of violations. I thought they would give up for a while, but they actually fixed them quickly. Then, just when it looked like they were ready to start working again, they totally stopped the demolition, and haven't been working for about a month. Who knows? :roll: Maybe they are out of money.

What's the address? Curious.

anonymous · November 2006

Subject: 15th & 4th

If it's the corner building that's been in horrible disrepair, with a big "learn the real estate business" or something sign hanging on it, and that is now being torn down -

Address: 546 4 AVENUE, BROOKLYN, 11215
Owner: 548 LLC
Lot Area: 3112
Lot Frontage: 37.92 Lot Depth: 82.08
Number of Buildings: 3 Year Built: 1910
Number of Floors: 4 Bldg Gross Area: 8464
Flr Area Ratio: Max Allow Flr Area Ratio: 6
Residential Units: 5 Total # of Units: 7
Land Use: 02
Zoning: R8A Special Dist: N/A
Commercial Overlay: C2-4 Zoning Map #: 16D

(from NYC Map Portal)

caaahyoko · November 2006

Yep that's the one. Yeah, I heard it was a beautiful den of squatters until recently

Actually, whoever is building the condos there also bought the first building behind it (on 15th) and tore that down as well. While they were doing that they didn't even bother to put up a construction fence. One morning I went out there the whole mass of debris was creating a nice little bridge over to our fence. What was scary about it was that at the top of the little debris hill was this half connected bath tub. If someone had disconnected it wrong, and it got away from them, I would have had a cast-iron tub in my flower bed.

So I'm glad they're tearing down the vacant building, but I'm a little nervous about their demolition skills!

lostingreenwoodhts · November 2006

15th and 4th, I was afraid that was the one. In the recently rezoning, 4th Ave was "up zoned" with a cap at 12 stories (like what was done in 2003 north of 15th St. to Atlantic Ave).

I hate to tell folks this, but the developer originally filed for a 6 story building with set back (7 stories) build-able "as of right" under the old R8A zoning. Now he can goto 12 stories.

The reason the site has been quiet is that he refilled for an 11 story building. Last time we heard insider info, he needed to dig down, further underpin the adjacent properties and beef up the existing foundation to meet code to proceed with the 11 story development.

Unfortunate down side to the "down zoning" of the side blocks. At the end of the day, it was the trade off with City Planning. 20/20 hindsight, as they say.

anonymous · November 2006

mhl11215 wrote: The 15th street buildings were just reviewed by the BSA in October and scheduled to reappear this month.

The strange thing about this project is that the SWO was issued October 2005 and it's just now going before the BSA. Doesn't seem like the builders are in any hurry to get it done.

If it is deemed they had no plan approval, what would be the fallout? (Or has that already happened, and the hearing is to hear the poor, poor developer cry hardship, and absolve them of everything?)

Wonder if they are built to current zoning, or if they're too high now? Am very leery of their 'attic', which looks like penthouse apartments waiting to be converted. It features large balconies, with large 'french doors' sized openings in the brick facade, that are currently flimsily boarded up with small utility windows (with balconies inaccessible). Smells like zoning trickery.

Mystery Buildings - 2nd St 4th Ave + 15th St betw 7th

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