From the Queens Courier:Developers of a nearly complete medical center in Astoria plan to take adjacent homeowners to court to gain key access to their backyards, residents said.
Pali Realty needs permission to enter the backyards of about five adjacent homes in order to wrap up an eight-story ambulatory care center project at 23-25 31st Street.
But dozens of residents, who say they have suffered foundation cracks and water damage since the project broke ground in late 2009, plan to adamantly deny them entrance.
“We don’t want them in our yards,” said homeowner Robert Draghi. “They have done severe damage to numerous houses and they refuse to even discuss settling damages. They never made a single offer to any of the homeowners.”
The company is prepared to gain access through a court order, according to a letter it sent the homeowners early last month.
Pali Realty wants no more than 60 days to waterproof and apply a cement stucco finish to the back wall of the medical center, the letter says.
The developer would need access to a four to six foot wide strip of land behind the building to erect scaffolding and remove piles of shoring steel.
It said it would obtain “additional insurance” to cover any potential damage to properties.
But Draghi, who has lived in his home for 13 years, said that promise has been made before.
“We have a letter from two years ago saying if any damages happen during construction, they would fix them,” he said. “They didn’t do that.”
Draghi said the homeowners would only grant Pali Realty access if developers formally agree to repair damages made since construction began.
10 comments:
Fear and loathing in Vallonia!
This developer should be fined 10x the amount of damages to punish him - give 5x to the property owners and 5x to the city.
What a behemoth of a building - fast food and medical centers - the only two growth businesses in NYC.
Again, where are the politicians?
I would suggest they call each one, write an open letter to the gang and ask all the weeklies to publish it, then come back to Crappy and share their efforts.
Better than even odds they will get noticed.
Some times the only way to get the attention of bugs is to turn on the lights and open the doors.
So let me get something straight:
The aggrieved home owners have a letter from the developers promising the repair of damages which was never done, the developers admit a design error on their part, and CB1 despite that voted to lift a partial stop work order (see full article) to let this continue?
That parody website should rethink its need for a disclaimer.
The developers allowed the building to exceed the legal plans by 10 feet. If they would have been true to the plans they wouldn't have a need to trespass onto neighbors property to complete their now court approved illegal project.
Also, Pali Realty, the offending developer, is located on 7th Ave. Whitestone.
Vallonia! It's a Developer's Paradise. Coming to a neighborhood in northeast Queens very soon!
This is the sort of thing where one ought to be required to give a neutral third party a bond or escrow against possible damages to the nearby homes. And of course, the already damaged homes should be repaired.
There was some disgraceful construction of Queens Blvd where two occupied adjacent building had to be demolished because their foundations were undermined. I wonder if the owners of those buildings were ever compensated. This seems like the crime that cannot be punished.
what a joke. when the slumlords are harassing tenants out of rent controlled and rent stabilized apartments, these property owners could care less. they look down on mere tenants and automatically assume any problem is the tenants fault. Now the exact same thing is being down to home owners to force them to sell at low prices.
well, what comes around goes around.
I hope they prevail but at the same time have they had their heads in the sand all these years?
It seems that one wants to know how very much organized crime is involved with real estate in NYC. Maybe now these people will find out.
they should be prepared for even more nonsense and outrageous, over the top behavior from the real estate developers.
Aren't the people who hired these gangsters, doctors, the caring men and women of the medical profession who will be looking after our health care in this abomination?
I tell ya, go after the freakin' politicians to do SOMETHING!
If Mystery Mike Gianaris can waste your time going after regulating ice hockey rinks and funeral processions its absolute bullshit that he do something besides silly photo ops with school kids.
You have nothing to lose people besides your shackles of surfdom.
Make a big stink in the local press (another problem like the pols) and blitz the offices with calls.
Then come back to Crappy and tell us how American citizens and voters are treated.
While you are at it, bring Costa in to this.
We do not need Vallone II.
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