Monday, January 23, 2017
Water's Edge development is falling apart
From The Wave:
On Friday, Jan. 13, owners of the condominiums, Water’s Edge in Arverne stood in front of their ‘shoddily constructed’ city-financed dream of first-time homeownership for low and moderate income people and proclaimed it a nightmare.
Council Member Donovan Richards stood in solidarity with the homeowners, asking the Briarwood Organization for one simple thing.
“Just do the right thing,” said Richards. “One of the many dreams we have in life is to become the owner of our very own home. Many people, particularly in our city, never get that opportunity, never mind an affordable home. Unfortunately, for many of the residents here, that dream turned into a reality and then a nightmare. Briarwood needs to make this right and if they don’t, we are calling on HPD to refuse to work with their organization on any subsidized projects.”
On Sept. 1, 2016, the condominium board sued the Briarwood Organization Arverne /Briarwood II, LLC, its principals, Vincent L. Riso, Raymond Riso, James Riso, Howard Goodman, and Briarwood Properties, Inc. who built the 130-unit complex consisting of 65 two-story buildings, with a condo unit on each floor after winning the bid of the Request For Proposal (RFP) issued by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) during the Bloomberg administration.
23 comments:
What's there to comment on? There is no content. What is the "nightmare" issue(s) at this complex?
Cardboard City. The next hurricane or tidal wave will sweep it out to sea. How stupid and dangerous it was for the city to allow these to be built just feet away from the Atlantic Ocean.
A few years ago Helen Marshall Touted this development in her state of the Borough Speech as one of her "Accomplishments"
An engineer’s report, dated May 26, 2015 and prepared by Erwin & Bielinski, Pllc detailed the following:
"The roofs are in poor condition and will require extensive refurbishment in the immediate future. There are significant leaks through improper flashing and signs of bubbles from trapped water under the membrane.
The gutters are installed without any slope and contain large quantities of standing water. They also overflow during rain events. There are clear signs of water penetration at many doors and windows, which is consistent with improper flashing and sealing around the window and door openings. This is also likely exacerbated by the impact of overflowing gutters.
The main electric circuit boxes for both levels of the duplex homes are located in the garage, which belongs exclusively to the upper floor homes, and thus such placement is contrary to the electrical code, which requires each resident to have ready access to the circuit box controlling his or her unit."
The soundstage assembled in Blazing Saddles to trick Hedley Lamarr's mercenary posses was more resilient and structurally sound.
http://www.scvhistory.com/gif/lw2145i.jpg
fake averne by the sea.
Great. Let me get my check book, what is this gonna cost me?
Today's nor'easter should solve this problem.
Was this wonderful structure built by Union Labor?
Just asking...
Cant fix, the primary parts of the construction are all cheap composite and PVC materials that are now degrading.
It be less expensive to store the kitchen, bathroom and heating system components level and rebuild them the correct way.
I bet they reek of chemicals and swamp inside too !
This is what happens when greedy pricks with computers are allowed design cheap slap up shit.
The aluminum siding and plastic porches are a dead giveaway.
Wait until the next tidal surge.
It will be carried away. Heh....free demolition. Then rebuild.
"Water's Edge"! Just the name is an omen.
If I were to buy at the edge of a body of water, I'd make sure it was high on an imovable granite shelf.
Bring back the bungalows that were knocked down to build this atrocity, at least THEY were structurally sound...
Finally there is affordable housing and STILL you complain!
I did some work in one of these homes. When I installed a security strike on the door from the garage to the house, I tightened the 3" screws by hand and it pulled the frame away from the door. It left a 5/16" gap and would've been more if I hadn't stopped. I ended up pulling the trim from around the frame so I could add some shims and support.
The homeowner was a first-time buyer and asked me to create a punch list for him, since he wasn't sure what to look for. It came to at least 35 items, six or seven which were pretty serious.
The plastic should actually hold up better in a beach environment. No rot from water.
It sounds like these were supposed to be 2 family houses or an owners house and the other house as an in law suite or rental. In that case it makes sense that the owner would retain control of the electrical box and the water shut off valves. I wonder if either the actual building plan or the marketing changed part of the way through and the developer never updated anything with the city.
"Bring back the bungalows" They were great in the day. I remember them from my childhood along with Rockaway Playland. Those were the days...
Plastic used emits toxic gases. Sunlight warps this early plastic siding shit.
Then there is wind that can peel away this light skin.
Result...ticky tacky overpriced shit! The owners got shafted!
There are skeletal bungalows still there by the waters where the train goes on the rockaway elevated line. They have been there for decades and are still holding up.
Whereas the fake averne houses was a genesis project to spur gentrification. Being that they were mandated for lower and middle class people, Briarwood didn't feel the need to give a fuck and used the cheapest materials. This smells like classic racketeering.
Even Stop and Shop regrets opening a store there despite being given special tax breaks.
This all leaves me to question.... were these erupting from after effects of Hurricane Sandy which decimated many of our homes in the Rockaways? FEMA didn't provide all of the money they requested for repairs? They're not alone in that. Common sense fact: if you purchase a home by the ocean, the home needs constant upkeeping. What were they expecting? To purchase affordable homes, using grants and such from taxpayers' money AND expect more taxpayers' funding to go to maintaining their own homes? Even the strongest non-affordable homes were affected by Hurricane Sandy! What gives them the right to point the finger to others than themselves for the upkeep of their own homes? Just saying.
This all leaves me to question.... were these erupting from after effects of Hurricane Sandy which decimated many of our homes in the Rockaways? FEMA didn't provide all of the money they requested for repairs? They're not alone in that. Common sense fact: if you purchase a home by the ocean, the home needs constant upkeeping. What were they expecting? To purchase affordable homes, using grants and such from taxpayers' money AND expect more taxpayers' funding to go to maintaining their own homes? Even the strongest non-affordable homes were affected by Hurricane Sandy! What gives them the right to point the finger to others than themselves for the upkeep of their own homes? Just saying.
I live here. I love living here. There are Some homes that required the above mentioned roofing and leak issues. Mine was not one. The vast majority did not. What we got, was the amazing opportunity to own beach front property at a low cost. Best decision we ever made! Ultimately, the enormous amount of money we saved in rebates and tax incentives will pay for the minor fixes that occur. Or even the major ones like leaks...A few things to clarify. The aluminum siding is high quality and survived through Hurricane Sandy and every storm since for 95% of the units that don't directly face the beach. The base structure is built from cinder block concrete. These bones will be here forever, trust me. The porches are made from pressure treated wood. Not plastic. The railings are vinyl. And have held up with no warping for 11 years. Are there small issues? like trim and electric box placement. And some leaks? Sure. Was it worth it?? Yes!!! Just wanted to chime in from a grateful perspective. Thank you
Post a Comment