"5 Pointz" "affordable" luxury public housing tower apartments are available for lottery applicants

 

Astoria Post

 More than 330 affordable apartments in Long Island City’s 5 Pointz towers are up for grabs through the city’s affordable housing lottery.

The units are located within in two newly-constructed towers at 22-44 Jackson Ave., where the famous 5 Pointz factory building once stood that was known for its acclaimed aerosol murals.

There are studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and a couple three-bedroom units on offer. The studios  start at $1,850 a month.

The units are located within in two newly-constructed towers at 22-44 Jackson Ave., where the famous 5 Pointz factory building once stood that was known for its acclaimed aerosol murals.

There are studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and a couple three-bedroom units on offer. The studios  start at $1,850 a month.

An advertisement for the new towers describes them as luxury buildings with “countless” amenities.

“Create your life in the building of your dreams,” the ad reads. “5 Pointz stands out in the heart of a Long Island City neighborhood buzzing with culture.”

The apartments in the new towers are open to people who make at least $63,429 a year, with the income threshold set at 130 percent of the area median income.

There are 78 studio units available for $1,850 a month to households of one to two people who make between $63,429 and $118,300 combined annually.

There are 180 one-bedroom units available for $2,295 a month to households of one to three people who make between $78,686 and $133,120 combined annually.

There are 77 two-bedroom units available for $2,775 a month to households of two to five people who earn between $95,143 and $159,640 combined annually.

Lastly, there are two three-bedroom units available for $3,200 a month to households of three to seven people who make between $109,715 to $183,300.

 Way to take care of the housing insecure and end the tale of two cities, de Blasio.

5 Pointz emerges victorious, 6.75 million dollar case is settled.

 Queens Post

It’s time to pay up.

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from a New York developer who had been ordered to pay $6.75 million to 21 aerosol artists in 2018 for destroying their work that was on the famous 5Pointz warehouse.

The decision ends a long saga between the artists and G & M Realty, which argued that the company was not liable for destroying the aerosol artwork since it was on their building that has since been demolished.

The dispute began soon after Jerry Wolkoff, the owner of G & M who died in July, announced in 2012 that he planned to flatten the 5Pointz warehouse to build two luxury rental towers. The announcement led to heated protests by hundreds of aerosol artists and their supporters who had turned 5Pointz into a major New York destination.

 he artists filed suit in Brooklyn federal court in the summer of 2013 to stop him from demolishing the building, alleging that Wolkoff would violate their rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act. The 1990 law aimed to protect public art of “recognized stature” even if it is on someone else’s property.

However, in November 2013 Wolkoff hired painters to whitewash the artwork in the middle of night to put the dispute to an end. He banned the artists from the site and refused to allow them to recover any work that could be removed, according to court records.

Wolkoff maintained that the works were temporary and not protected by law, and that he had the right to do as he wished on his property. The warehouse was demolished in 2014 and two residential towers have gone up on the site that are almost complete.

A federal jury ruled in favor of the artists in November 2017, and found that Wolkoff had “willfully” disregarded his requirement under the VARA. He was required to provide the artists with “90 days notice before destroying their work.

 

5 Pointz hits the jackpot, judge rules against Wolkoff

Artnet
 
In a sweeping 32-page decision eviscerating the legal arguments of a disgruntled Queens real estate developer, a US Appeals Court affirmed the rights and monetary damages awarded to a group of graffiti artists whose works were destroyed without warning or consent in 2013.

The artists sued the developer, Gerald Wolkoff, in 2013 for violating their rights after he whitewashed their work at the famous 5Pointz graffiti art mecca in New York to make way for condos. A jury ruled in favor of the artists in November 2017, but it was up to a judge to determine the extent of the damages.

In February 2018, Brooklyn Supreme Court judge Frederick Block awarded the artists a total $6.75 million in a landmark decision. The sum included $150,000—the maximum legal penalty—for each of the 45 destroyed works at the center of the case.

The trial was a key test of the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA), which grants visual artists certain “moral rights” for their work. Previous VARA cases rarely made it to trial, and were instead settled privately.

But the act, which was added to copyright laws in 1990, disallows the modification of works in ways that could be considered harmful to artists’ reputations, and grants protections to artworks deemed to be of “recognized stature.”

In his appeal, Wolkoff challenged practically every aspect of the decision by Judge Block, from the amount of the award, to the suggestion that the graffiti murals at 5Pointz merited protection under the “recognized stature” clause.

But Wolkoff was rebuffed on all points in the latest ruling, and the court took the additionally extraordinary step of citing his own lawyers against him. “Wolkoff’s own expert acknowledged that temporary artwork can achieve recognized stature,” according to the decision.

The ruling also took Wolkoff to task for making misrepresentations about how his business would have been harmed if he did not move to immediately whitewash the works. In his arguments, Wolkoff claimed that certain tax credits available to him would have expired if he did not move quickly to paint over the works.

Yet he did not even have a demolition permit for the building when he began his campaign to cover up the murals.

Congratulations 5 Pointz, you all earned every penny from this disingenuous arrogant jerk.

Wolkoff adds public library to "5 Pointz" tower, community board approves

THE CITY

A Queens community board reversed its opposition to a new proposal for 5Pointz Towers — a luxury complex planned at the site of a famed former Long Island City street art mecca — thanks, in part, to a library.

The yes vote came just over two months after Community Board 2 wrote a letter to the City Planning Commission recommending denial of the application, alleging the developer had “sought every way to thwart community board review.”

On Thursday night, the board made a surprise 180-degree turn — in the middle of its meeting. First, members voted 20-to-8 against the developer’s application. Then they voted 23-to-5 in favor of the towers after a proposal to set aside 5,000 square feet for a library.

The space was viewed by board members as a possible replacement for the Court Square Library, which is in danger of losing its longtime home in the Citigroup Building.

The board’s land use chair, Lisa Deller, said after the meeting the idea had not been previously discussed with the developers or the Queens Public Library.

The board’s advisory vote marked the latest chapter in the saga of 5Pointz — the former warehouse complex that drew artists and art lovers from around the world until the owners whitewashed the walls before demolishing the buildings in 2013.

Developer David Wolkoff, who co-owns the property with his father, Jerry, filed an application with the City Planning Commission in May to build 1,100 apartments and to increase each of the complex’s two towers by one floor, tweaking previous plans.

“I’ve been in the community over 47 years,” Jerry Wolkoff told CB2 Thursday night. “The community never had a problem with me until I wanted to build this building.”

Wolkoffs hold secret meeting with CB2 over 5 Pointz tower developments

THE CITY

Queens community board members met privately last week with a developer seeking their approval on revised plans to build luxury apartment buildings at the old 5Pointz graffiti hotspot, THE CITY has learned.

Three people, including developer David Wolkoff, gathered at Manducatis Rustica, Italian restaurant, on July 16. The session came less than two weeks before the board’s deadline to weigh in on an expanded version of the two towers Wolkoff hopes to build.

The board is under no legal obligation to be transparent. But news of the session rankled good-government watchdogs and opponents of the plan, who are still furious nearly six years after Wolkoff whitewashed the street art that drew visitors from around the world.

Community Board 2 Chairperson Denise Keehan-Smith previously told THE CITY a meeting was scheduled — but did not address subsequent repeated question on what was discussed at the restaurant or who attended the clandestine get-other.

 “We are preparing our recommendation” for the revised plan, Keehan-Smith said on Monday, declining further comment. Lisa Deller, the board’s Land Use Committee chairperson, said at a June meeting that a letter of denial already had been drafted.

Wolkoff, who co-owns the property with his father Jerry, did not respond to a request for comment. Jerry Wolkoff told THE CITY that he didn’t see anything wrong with the covert meeting.

“I encourage my son and myself to meet with anybody in a community or anybody in the city… Why shouldn’t we?” Wolkoff said. “I wouldn’t do anything where I would hurt a community or hurt individuals.”

“My son is the same way,” he added. “He will reach out to people to meet because I’ve always done that. We don’t hide. I’m a different developer. We meet, we listen, and if it makes sense we’re going to do it.”

 

$6.7M awarded to 5 Pointz artists by federal judge

From PIX11:

A New York judge has awarded $6.7 million to graffiti artists who sued after their work was destroyed on buildings torn down to make room for luxury condos.

Federal Judge Frederic Block in Brooklyn noted Monday there was no remorse from the owner of the warehouse buildings. Long Island Developer Jerry Wolkoff allowed the painting for decades on the property.

In November 2017 during a three-week trial, twenty-one aerosol artists sued the owner of a Long Island City, Queens site known as 5Pointz.

The case was based on the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. That federal law allows artists "to prevent any destruction of a work of recognized stature, and any intentional or grossly negligent destruction of that work"

The judge said he would not have assessed so much in damages if the owner had awaited his permits and demolished the art 10 months later than he did. Wolkoff ordered crews to whitewash the building one night. Wolkoff tells PIX11 News he plans to appeal the ruling.

Block said he hoped the award would give teeth to a federal law that should have kept Wolkoff from demolishing them for at least 10 months, when he had all his permits.

Artists then could have easily rescued some paintings from siding, plywood or sheet-rock before the rollers, spray machines and buckets of white paint arrived.

"Wolkoff has been singularly unrepentant. He was given multiple opportunities to admit the whitewashing was a mistake, show remorse, or suggest he would do things differently if he had another chance," Block said.

"Wolkoff could care less. As he callously testified," the judge said. "The sloppy, half-hearted nature of the whitewashing left the works easily visible under thin layers of cheap, white paint, reminding the plaintiffs on a daily basis what had happened. The mutilated works were visible by millions of people on the passing 7 train."

Jury sides with 5 Pointz

From Curbed:

A jury has concluded that 5 Pointz developer Jerry Wolkoff violated the law when he whitewashed that buildings without warning, erasing graffiti from dozens of artists. The jury’s findings will serve as a recommendation to the lawsuit’s presiding judge, who will then render a final verdict, reports the New York Times.

“The jury sided strongly with the rights of the artists. This is a clear message from the people that the whitewashing of the buildings by its owner was a clear and willful act,” said lawyer Eric Baum, who represents the artists that filed the suit.

The judge will ultimately determine the repercussions of Wolkoff’s actions, which could include making him pay the artists for destroying their artwork.

Queens Gentrifiction Tour points fingers at pols

From Progress Queens:

Members of an activist group, the Queens Anti-Gentrification Project, conducted a "gentrification tour" of a Queens neighborhood on Saturday, reciting facts and figures at various tour stops to recount in stark terms that Government policy was supporting radical changes to Long Island City that was displacing long-term tenants and changing the landscape of Queens. The tour was joined by approximately 50 people.

The Queens Gentrification Tour began outside the former site of 5Pointz, a building complex that was demolished to make way for two luxury apartment buildings. With the rumble of the 7 subway train overhead, a member of the activist group described how, in the time leading up to the New York City Council approval of the rezoning for the construction project, Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) accepted several thousand dollars in campaign donations from the Wolkoff family, owners of the site at the time. In advance of the tour, the Queens Anti-Gentrification Project released information in a blog post about real estate industry-related campaign donations received by Councilmember Van Bramer's campaign committee. Some of those figures were recounted during the tour.

For this report, the office of Councilmember Van Bramer did not answer a request to respond to the accusations made by anti-gentrification activists that Councilmember Van Bramer served the interests of his campaign committee's real estate donors.

At various stops of the tour, members of the activist group challenged what they described as the "myth" that real estate development in New York City was driven by the free market. Instead, one activist said at one tour stop that the New York tax policy known as 421-a was responsible for encouraging luxury real estate development speculation by eliminating property taxes to allow real estate developers to construct zone-busting apartment buildings. The annual cost of the 421-a property tax abatement program was reported as $1,4 billion in a report published by The New York Times. At several tour stops, the foregone $1,4 billion in annual property taxes was denounced for the missed opportunities to make strategic investments in infrastructure or public schools.

5Pointz heading to court

From the NY Times:

This is no vandalism case in a criminal courthouse, but rather a federal lawsuit filed in 2013 by the 23 artists who painted regularly at 5Pointz, against its owner, Jerry Wolkoff, who ordered the artwork destroyed.

The artists scored an incremental legal victory on March 31 when Judge Frederic Block of Federal District Court in Brooklyn ruled that their case could have a jury trial.

The plaintiffs hope it could become a landmark case. Celebrity artists like Banksy have gained prominence in recent years, and street art — whether spray painted, stenciled or wheat-pasted — has gained increasing respect and value, even when created on walls not owned by the artists.

The ruling sets up the fascinating scene of a trial in which art experts could be called to weigh in on the integrity of what court papers call “aerosol art,” and to evaluate the graffiti artists themselves. Evidence will include articles on 5Pointz, a building complex along Jackson Avenue in Long Island City that was covered with spray-painted murals by top street artists from New York and around the world.

Painting with Mr. Wolkoff’s permission, artists had turned the spot into an international graffiti mecca, an exhibition space and conservatory.

Preparing to build high rises on the property in 2013, Mr. Wolkoff faced opposition from the artists, who sought to block the demolition. He hired a crew that painted over the murals under cover of night, then left the building sitting for months until it was knocked down in 2014.

The judge’s ruling offers the artists a chance to confront Mr. Wolkoff in court and to seek redress for painting over their work, said Jonathan Cohen, an artist who had curated the murals and helped organize the artists at 5Pointz since 2002.

Mr. Cohen said he was hopeful that the suit might become a landmark case to establish street art as legitimate contributions worthy of protection.

Protest at former 5 Pointz site

From the Observer:

Building and Construction Trades Council President Gary LaBarbera and Queens Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, along with several hundred union workers, blasted a developer—whom LaBarbera called a “piece of shit”—who they say broke a promise to use union workers at its Long Island City construction site.

According to Van Bramer, Jerry Wolkoff, co-owner of G&M Realty agreed to several community givebacks during the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure process, including a commitment to build and staff the site, the 5Pointz warehouse at 45-46 Davis St. with 100 percent union labor. In exchange the city granted G&M the ability to build 400 additional units—but Van Bramer says Wolkoff has since backtracked on the agreement.

Wolkoffs plan to cash in on 5Pointz name

From the Queens Courier:

The owners of what was once home to the iconic outdoor art exhibit 5Pointz – which has since been demolished completely – have reportedly announced that they will recycle the name for new residential towers taking its place.

Jerry and David Wolkoff of G&M Realty tried previously trademarking the name but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied their request. A California-based real estate company had already trademarked the name.

However, they were able to register the name as a servicemark with the state, according to published reports.

The site, located at 45-46 Davis St. in Long Island City, will soon be the home of two $400 million luxury towers with 1,000 units divided between the two buildings.

Petition to stop G&M Realty from trademarking the name 5Pointz

From Change.org:

In 2002 artist Jonathan Cohen aka MeresOne reached an agreement with Gerald Wolkoff, real estate developer and owner of a warehouse in Queens. MeresOne was given full curatorial and operational control to host aerosol and street artists to come paint legally without repercussions. Given the chance to curate 200,000 square feet of blank canvas, Jonathan Cohen named the art program 5 Pointz Aerosol Art Center and created it's logo.
For over 11 years MeresOne volunteered and transformed a blank and dilapidated building into the epicenter of legal aerosol art in the world, catering to beginners, famed artists, art lovers and alike becoming the number one tourist attraction in Queens, New York. www.5ptz.com

On November 19th, 2013 New York City awoke to discover all the art pieces white washed and 5 Pointz destroyed. This art genocide was ordered by G&M realty, landlord of 5 Pointz, owner of the land and building, the destruction of the art work occurred in the dark of the night. This act was justified by the owner claiming 5 Pointz was not relevant and he owned the property hosting the art.

March 2014, the landlord G&M realty filed their request to trademark the name 5 Pointz to promote, market and advertise their new project, two luxury rental high-rise towers to be erected on the graveyard which became to be known as the graffiti mecca of the world, 5 Pointz.

Join me in requesting the attention of the trademarking commission to stop G&M realty from exploiting further the art community and capitalizing on the fame of 5 Pointz created by Jonathan Meres one Cohen, by the people for the people.

Wolkoff tries to trademark 5 Pointz name

From DNA Info:

The owner of the 5Pointz complex currently being demolished to make way for apartment towers are trying to have the name of the street art mecca trademarked — a move artists criticized as trying to "bank off our name."

G&M Realty, the developer planning to build about 1,000 rental units at the Long Island City site, submitted an application in March to trademark "5Pointz," according to documents filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The latest filing shows their bid was initially refused in June because the mark was too similar to another that's already registered, according to the document. G&M Realty has six months to respond to the decision.

Jerry Wolkoff, the developer, said 5Pointz refers to the location, not the artists or the artwork that previously adorned the property.

Entire block to be demolished in LIC

From the Court Square Blog:

Demolition has moved into a new phase at 45-46 Davis Street, the former home of 5Pointz. The last time we checked in, construction crews had erected fences on Davis and Crane Street.1 More recently, they put up the scaffolding on the Jackson Avenue side, shown in the first photo. Demolition is moving along quickly in the middle section of the lot (see the second and third photos), and with the scaffolding up on the Jackson Avenue, it won’t be long before those buildings start to come down, as well.

5 Pointz being demo'ed

From CBS 2s:

The 5Pointz building in Long Island City, Queens – once a haven for graffiti artists – was under demolition Friday.

Heavy trucks began demolition of the building at 45-46 Davis St. in Queens Friday. The building is being torn down to make way for luxury apartments.

The demolition will take three to four months to complete.

A look at what will replace 5 Pointz

From PIX 11:

As a construction team prepares to tear down 5 Pointz, renderings of what will replace the graffiti mecca have been released.

The two giant towers will be built in the next three to five months.

Together, the buildings will have 1,000 rental units, including penthouses and affordable housing.

There will also be a pool, a courtyard and an art wall.

One of the towers will also have retail stores.

The permits to build the towers were filed last week.

Brilliant protest at 5 Pointz

From the Queens Courier:

The Queens graffiti mecca 5 Pointz was whitewashed last year to make way for a high-end condo building. A lot of people, many of whom had tried to get the building landmarked, were upset.

Among them were artists gilf! and BAMN (By Any Means Necessary), who on Saturday draped a giant "GENTRIFICATION IN PROGRESS" banner across the Jackson Avenue side of the 5 Pointz building.

5 Pointz asbestos removal commences

There was some activity at the 5 Pointz site yesterday. Apparently, they are in the middle of asbestos removal in preparation for the demolition. From what I understand, the operation has been shut down at least once already.

That's a long time to be removing asbestos.

Poster protest targets Van Bramer

Protest continues at 5 Pointz

Photos by Jerry Rotondi