Friday, October 23, 2015

MASSIVE watermain break on Queens Blvd in Elmhurst


From Eyewitness News:

Construction crews had been operating at 51-35 Reeder Street in Queens when shoring pilings they were installing struck a water main. The work site quickly flooded but all workers were accounted for.

The main is not capped. City Department of Environmental Protection workers were working to stem the water flow. The first stories of five addresses were evacuated due to flooding: 86-55 Broadway; 86-30 Broadway; 86-31 Broadway; 86-32 Broadway; and 86-34 Broadway.


From DNA Info:

The developer — listed as 85-15 Queens Blvd. Realty, LLC — was issued a partial stop work order in August because there was no underpinning at the site, according to Department of Buildings records.

85-15 Queens Blvd. Realty, LLC could not be reached for comment.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Revenge of McDowell's...

Anonymous said...

call before you dig.

kingofnycabbies said...

I believe that site is where the Wendy's was until last year. It is probably better known for being "McDowell's" In "Coming To America."

S.O.L. NYC MH said...

Now it will be known a chinese development crap that flooded out a neighborhood. Don't worry one bedroom only $2400 a month. massagee, massagee

Anonymous said...

Don't forget the bank (in the round). I think it was an EAB.

Anonymous said...

Someone didn't do their homework. I hope the city sues the developer to recoup cleanup costs.

Oh wait, the nameless hiding-behind-an-LLC developers probably have paid off plenty of elected officials to prevent them from facing any ramifications.

(sarc) said...

Well the whole area needed an enema anyway...

Anonymous said...

Could have been worst the knuckle heads could have hit a gas main instead !

Camel bladder said...

Listen folks, I have to work with DOB on a regular basis because I am in the plumbing business. I can tell you that when honest, legitimate contractors make a mistake and get caught they get their ass handed to them by DOB. However, it seems that if you fuck around on a large enough scale and you are a real estate developer you can do shit like this and your project will get completed and signed off.
WATCH WHAT HAPPENS HERE. This job will continue, it will not be stopped and the building will be sold and occupied. In the grand scheme of things none of this will matter, the development will go on.

georgetheatheist said...

Names. Names behind the corporation? And addresses too.

Anonymous said...

Off with the heads of these Chinese developers intent on destroying Elmhurst!!!

Anonymous said...

This is what happens when stuff is done under the table.
Thank God nobody got hurt.
Can you imagine if it was a gas line?
Now the question is who pays for the cleanup?
How about how pays for the water?
The Water Board and the DEP hose the house owners with ever increasing water and sewer charges.
Not to mention that area residents filed many complaints about this site.
So what the heck is going on here?

Anonymous said...

Get off the usual anti Chinese nonsense. There was construction of a new building and the building next to it had to be evacuated when they were digging the foundation. The builders and developers were non Chinese.

Anonymous said...

James Pi of Flushing is the owner...

JQ said...

Regarding the LLC/shell company, this is how the banks were operating in the aughts before the big bailout happened and it's also how the prison industrial complex are still operating when detaining illegal immigrants. So why not some unscrupulous bastard assholes take advantage of the ludicrous laws on the books to enrich themselves. They know they won't feel the pinch of handcuffs for their immoral behavior, for it's now the American Way and it's legal to lie, cheat and steal if you're already wealthy and as long as jobs are created.

And as someone who commutes frequently on the boulevard of death, I have seen the unholy mess they have made in the last few months constructing whatever ugliness is going to be there. And for what really. There are condos that went up a few blocks from that site and by the bqe that are still mostly vacant. In the middle of it is the unsightly pan american shelter. This is a slightly decorative version of urban blight.

Snake Plissskin said...

Queens Blvd is a symbol of everything wrong in Queens and how the people that are managing the borough have not the foggiest notion as to what they are doing. Their casual indifference is evident by the God-awful mess they are leaving in their wake.

Do you see any of those a*sholes 'proud to stand' next to this mess their policies (of lack thereof) has caused?

MIA - except to show up the camera hogs (they all are) to bask someone's else's credit and to get their name in the paper.

For that matter, outside of honest graft they skim off for their friends, these people who we see in the papers each week smirking back at us really don't give two shits about the responsibilities of governing or the impact they have on our lives.

This scum is betraying their public trust. They have monopolized the system insuring that the democratic electoral process is a sham.

What I do not understand is how the government always seems to come down heavy on the South where all sorts of gimmicks are used to discourage and disenfranchise -- but seems not to notice or care that pretty much that same is happening right here in Queens.

Anonymous said...

If you are a reliable and reputable developer, wouldn't you research NYC plans to understand where underground pipes exists? Even if you're a novice, this is just common sense! Digging on NY streets, you will probably encounter water, gas and electric utility pipes and wires. This is just negligence!

Anonymous said...

Owner's Information
Name: JAMES PI
Relationship to Owner: PARTNER
Business Name: 85-15 QUEENS BLVD REALTY Business Phone: 718-779-4395
Business Address: 136-18 39 AVE FLUSHING NY 11354 Business Fax:
E-Mail: ADMIN@PICAPITALPARTNERS.COM Owner Type: PARTNERSHIP
Non Profit: Yes No

georgetheatheist said...

Oooo. Lookey-look and ni hao ma (from the search engines):

Principals | PI Capital Partners
picapitalpartners.com/about/principals
Principals. Jerry Pi, CCIM, MS. ... Dr. James Pi is a founding principal of Pi Capital Partners and Victoria Cruises and has been involved in commercial and ...


BUT don't bother going to their site, since all you'll get is this.

BUT do indeed check out Victoria Cruises. Maybe the recent flooding is a test for Chinese cruise ships on Queens Boulevard?

Anonymous said...

Incredibly competent workforce, thanks to our schools

Anonymous said...

This is what happens when you let non Union companies work here. The guys that passed in the sink whole in the city, the drill rig that landed on police car, the guy who fell through plank in the city 9th Ave. The building collapse in Bk all within past 6. Months and now this. I can tell you that Union companies will have it checked and double checked be4 we dig. Y do u think we have massive projects like Wtc Kosciusko bridge Verrazano the new laguardia soon. To be new port authority we are skilled in the trade we didn't just pickup a hammer yesterday. Help save our city by keeping us Union. Don't let politicians like diblasio take advantage.

Anonymous said...

"Get off the usual anti Chinese nonsense."

Maybe just maybe these people should stop destroying building, houses, trees, grass an the neighborhoods in general while they are violating all kinds of laws.
While you are at it remember most people hate actions not skin, religion or ethnic background.
Your actions define you nothing else.
So get off your high horse.

Anonymous said...

'This is what happens when you let non Union companies work here.'

You know this wasn't a union crew. It was 8 in the am. The crew here was working while a union crew would be on their second break.

Anonymous said...


You know this wasn't a union crew. It was 8 in the am. The crew here was working while a union crew would be on their second break.


LOL, so you are saying union crew are lazy azzes..need to constant take breaks.. no wonder why nothing gets done with the union.

Anonymous said...

Overbuild, overbuild, overbuild. With an aging infrastructure, do you expect it to hold up?