Things that make you go hmmm.....

The brick structure at 110-17 71st Ave. is a skeleton of its former self, having been largely demolished since 2004 in what the city Department of Buildings considers an alteration because most of the facade and some supporting walls were left intact. A stop work order, dated Sept. 12, from the DOB was posted on the construction fence outside, and according to the DOB Web site, which cited work being done at the site was undermining the adjacent property, a lack of approved plans, a defective fence and a lack of shoring at the excavation.

Yet the property's market value was determined to be $1.01 million in the 2004-05 tax year, and has climbed steadily to $1.23 million in the 2007-08 tax year, according to the Department of Finance Web site.

Property value puzzle on 71st Ave.

Several doors down, at 110-39 71st Ave., workers are shielded from view behind a corrugated aluminum fence. It is the biggest house on the block and had a stop work order issued Aug. 1 for work not conforming to plans, according to the DOB Web site. The stop work order was rescinded Sept. 14 and workers were back on the site that same day.

This property, despite being closer to completion than its neighbor, has seen a drastic reduction in its assessed value from $1.106 million for the 2006-07 tax year to $478,000 for the 2007-08 year, and was then revised down again in April 2007 to $240,000, according to the Department of Finance Web site.