Luxury public housing tower development in Ridgewood is still in a coma

 

 

QNS

Construction has been put on hold for a 17-story mixed-use building at 3-50 St. Nicholas Ave. in Ridgewood.

Known as The Ridgewood, this tower will be the tallest structure in Ridgewood. It will cover 284,000 square feet. In addition to 97,000 of that square footage being dedicated to retail space, including two large stores and other amenities, The Ridgewood will have 133 rental apartments, with plans to set 30% of them aside for affordable housing. A community facility was also planned to be included as part of this structure.

Delays have previously plagued the construction process of The Ridgewood. A fatal accident on the construction site in April 2022 led to multiple stop work orders as a result of unsafe working conditions. While the developers of the building had initially hoped to complete the project in the winter of 2023, the stop work orders delayed construction for multiple months. It was not until December 2022 that the building was finally topped out. The latest construction delay likely means that the project will not be done before the end of 2024.

Prior to the most recent pause, the facade was partially enclosed. Progress had been further along in the exterior, at the podium. Current features of the podium include a red metal envelope and broad stretches of glass with black mullions. The main southern elevation is close to being completed, but the northern face is still mostly exposed, with metal frames currently in place to support the installation of paneling. A tall sidewalk shed is blocking the view of the tall sidewalk shed.

 

"Affordable housing" lottery is open for S%!thole building in Kew Gardens

 

QNS 

Applications are open for an “affordable apartment” at 81-07 Kew Gardens Rd.

Rendering courtesy of NYC Connect

It’s pitched as an affordable apartment in Queens, yet the rent for a one-bedroom is $3,140 a month.

NYC Housing Connect has opened a lottery for 16 “affordable apartments” inside a new 8-story, 51-unit development in Kew Gardens.

The building, located at 81-07 Kew Gardens Rd., has been developed by FBL Development, and includes a range of amenities, such as a gym and a rooftop terrace.

The units are designated for residents whose income falls within 130% of the area median income (AMI). The range accommodates potential tenants with incomes spanning from $107,658 to $198,250, depending on family size.

There are 11 one-bedroom apartments on offer through the lottery, which will rent for $3,140 and are available for those with an income ranging from $107,658 to $165,230.

There are also five two-bedroom apartments on offer with a monthly rent of $3,753. They are open to individuals and families with incomes ranging from $128,675 to $198,250.

The apartments are being touted as offering modern conveniences, such as a dishwasher, washers and dryers within the units, and recessed lighting. The kitchen areas are also equipped with appliances and finishes from reputable brands.

Applicants have until Jan. 5, 2024

 Wow,. When I rode by this last month it had 5 stop work orders on it. Guess it got the DMO treatment for the "City of Yes"

 

Day care on steroids being built next to Maspeth church

Whilst whistling down 60th Street in Maspeth one day, I came across this behemoth of a building. This site was featured on the blog 6 years ago when the church next to it was selling the property.

All was quiet at the site, and this is why.

No drawings, eh? Hmmm... Well what is it that is proposed for the property, which is pretty out of scale with the rest of the streetscape?

13,624 square feet of community space? What exactly is being built?

A day care center for 228 kids? Seems a bit unrealistic. After all, this nearby building on Flushing Ave was supposedly built to be a day care center years ago but a day care center didn't happen.

An old developer trick is to include a community facility in the building in order to be granted the right to build a bigger building. Then when it's complete and they can't find an appropriate tenant for a space, they change it over to residences or offices which would have had to be built smaller without the loophole. I don't know if that's what's at play here, but it's an odd location for a large day care center.

Worker crushed to death at development site in Jamaica

CBS NY

 One construction worker is dead and another injured after a construction collapse in Queens Thursday.

Firefighters rushed to the site on 94th Avenue in Jamaica to try and save the workers after a wall collapsed at the site.

The Department of Buildings say it permitted demolition to take place at the the existing three story building where the collapse took place.

The DOB has issued a partial stop-work order at a neighboring lot, but that didn’t prevent Thursday’s demolition.

Construction damage forces small business to close on Black Friday

Animal Pantry on Cross Bay Blvd was hit with a vacate order this past Friday due to construction behind the building damaging their foundation.

Great timing! It's called Black Friday because small businesses are generally running "in the red" up until the day after Thanksgiving, when they make a bundle off holiday shoppers, which pushes them "into the black" on their balance sheets.

All to build another cookie cutter piece of crap. For shame.

When is an attic not an attic?

What's this underdeveloped property with an older home and - gasp - a side yard doing taking up space in Queens? We need a hero to come and take care of this problem.

Not to worry, Middle Village has its own local overdevelopment superstars known as the Fabians. Small one family to be replaced with two 3-familys. I'll admit, these don't look quite as hideous as what I am used to from this development firm. However, the permits are for a 4-story building and this rendering doesn't seem to show that.

The 4th floor says "UPPER PORTION OF CLASS "A" DWELLING UNIT 276.5 SQ. FT. OPEN TO BELOW UNFLOORED AREA TO REMAIN PERMANENTLY"

What?

Might want to post the renewed permits, there, Bobby.

This looks legit. Naturally this was all self-certified and there were issues, including a stop work order.

Not your routine stop work order

In the 12 years we've been at this (has it really been that long?) we've come across a number of SWOs posted on buildings. But the story behind this one at 64-00 Metropolitan Ave is like none ever profiled here before.

You can learn a new way to get an ECB violation every day around these parts.

And wait, there's more! The plot thickens...

There are a slew of complaints about this building, and they're interesting to read.

Stop work order issued over zoning at controversial Elmhurst site

From the Times Ledger:

The city Department of Buildings issued a stop work order as of Aug. 29 on the controversial development at 82nd Street and Baxter Avenue in Elmhurst after the application to have the plot rezoned was challenged in City Council.

Anti-gentrification group Queens Neighborhoods United and City Councilman Francisco Moya (D-Jackson Heights) praised the challenge, claiming the Target slated for the location was no different than any other proposal brought forward by the developers, Sun Equity and Heskel Group, which would only drive residents and business out of the community.

The area is zoned R6/C1-3 which allows for businesses that serve “local consumer needs,” such as laundromats and bodegas. The challenge through the DOB labels the development at 40-31 82nd St. as a “department store,” which is not allowed under the zoning.

Illegal demo leads to garage collapse

From PIX11:

The owner, 1771 Weeks LLC, was ordered to “repair or replace” the garage.

Unfortunately, the owner, according to DOB inspectors, “hired contractors to unsafely begin demolishing the … rear garage … without a permit.”

The allegedly illegal work went on for two weeks.

On June 15, the birthday party was planned to take place at backyard picnic tables not far from the garage at 1771 Meeks. That’s when nearby residents heard what one man described as “sounding like a gunshot.”

The garage had collapsed and bricks came raining down on an area close to those picnic tables.

“It could have been fatal,” resident Marcel Sukhlall said, if the collapse had occurred just one hour later, when the party was scheduled to begin.

FDNY and DOB inspectors rushed to the scene. A stop-work order was issued for 1771 Weeks Ave. and vacate notices were put up on three surrounding buildings.

Hey, we can't impede progress!

Stop work order violations will carry heavier penalties

From The Real Deal:

The city will soon bump up fines for violating stop-work orders on construction sites, adding another $1,000 to penalties imposed for first-time offenses.

Starting June 18, the Department of Buildings will impose penalties of $6,000 for initial offenses and then $12,000 for every subsequent violation. Currently, the agency charges $5,000 for the former and $10,000 for the latter.

The City Council approved the change in August, along with a slew of other building-related bills. At the time, the council also voted to double penalties for work done without a permit, which varies based on the kind of work.

Red brick rowhouse horror in Elmhurst

At one time, Judge Street had a cute row of red brick homes along it. But what real estate mavens and politicians call "progress" happened to it. The hedges have been torn out and replaced with cars. One home, at 43-22, experienced a fire in 2014 that it still hasn't recovered from. In recent months, the owner has taken advantage of the lax zoning and has applied for a "vertical enlargement" which means further crappification of a once lovely streetscape. This month, a stop work order was put into effect.

First German Sport Club receives stop work order

Back in 2013, it appeared that World Financial Group was about to move into the former First German Sport Club of Brooklyn on Metropolitan Avenue at the edge of Ridgewood. That never happened, and the building sat as is until earlier this year, when this was done to it:

The stop work order seems to be for construction done outside the scope of the permit.

Maspeth developer attacks police

From the Daily News:

Prosecutors have charged a Queens homeowner with hurling a brick at a cop during a brawl over renovation permits, authorities said Wednesday.

Edward Wysk, 51, allegedly struck NYPD Officer Randy Paulsaint with the brick on Maspeth Ave. near 59th St. in Maspeth around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Wysk is also accused of assaulting Paulsaint’s partner and a city Department of Environmental Protection agent who was issuing a stop-work order on his home because he didn’t have the proper paperwork to show that asbestos had been removed from the building.

Wysk was in the middle of gutting and renovating the Maspeth property when DEP Agent Michael Lateef arrived and told him he had to shut down over the paperwork issue.

Outraged, Wysk ripped the stop-work order and Lateef’s credentials from his hands and threw them on the ground, according to prosecutors. When Lateef called police, Wysk smashed the agent’s phone against a wall, authorities said.

When Officer Paulsaint and his partner, Officer Matthew Portales, arrived and approached the front door, Wysk allegedly hurled a brick from inside the home.

The flying brick crashed through a window and struck Paulsaint in the head. Portales ran in to arrest Wysk and injured his arm in the scuffle.

Responding officers took Wysk into custody along with two construction workers who were initially thought to be the brick tossers. The workers were questioned and released without charges, officials said.

Owner of shut down Flushing project supports Paul Vallone

Hi QC,
Attached is a follow up photo of house in Flushing that had a SWO posted and three blog posting on this site last year. If Vallone took credit for getting a stop work order on the house why would the owner support him as a candidate? Something is rotten in Denmark. Thanks for the great blog!!!

F*cked up Flushing House finally shut down

Paul Vallone takes credit where credit isn't due

SWO ignored yet again at f*cked up Flushing house

- anonymous

A crap above, Ridgewood edition

Here we are at 1874 Hart Street, which is on a nice, quiet, rowhouse-lined block in Ridgewood.

What we have here is a horrendous vertical enlargement.

The 4-apartment building will soon be an 8-apartment building.

Some of the complaints are quite interesting.

One resulted in a stop work order.

Looks like they're also moving the entrance over to the left and installing a ramp which no other building on this street has. Sigh.

Kew Gardens business has problems with MTA

From CBS 2:

A business owner in Queens blames the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and a company hired to oversee repairs for a loss in customers.

There are growing fears among store owners and residents that the problems will lead to stores shutting down.

Anil Argawal says for the past week, he’s had no electricity in half of his store, and it’s led to fruits and vegetables going bad.

He says it’s cost him thousands of dollars in lost business.

“I’m totally devastated, I’m totally ruined,” he said.

Argawal and his brother own the market on Lefferts Boulevard right off Austin Street in Kew Gardens. The property, along with others, is on a bridge above the Long Island Rail Road tracks — owned by the MTA.

The agency hired management company Zee N Kay to oversee repair work.

Agarwal says the repairs have taken too long to make. The management company disagrees.

“We have fulfilled each and every one of our obligations,” Kunal Kapoor from Zee N Kay said.

Last Thursday, an electrician the company hired started to fix a panel because the electricity had been tripping. But four days later, an MTA Fire Marshal issued a stop work order — saying the agency needed to approve all electrical plans beforehand.

“Typically, LIRR takes several months to get back to you and we couldn’t wait that long,” Kapoor said.

Merchants say they feel repairs are dragged out because of possible plans in the future by the MTA to shut down stores on the historic bridge.

Locals have come up with a solution to the bridge problem. Will the MTA listen?

Partial collapse of building near Queens Plaza

From DNA Info:

The partial collapse of an apartment tower construction site near Queensboro Plaza injured six workers Monday, authorities said.

The workers suffered minor to moderate injuries in the incident, which took place at 42-20 27th St. around 11 a.m. when crews were pouring concrete into a 20-by-20 foot form that collapsed onto the seventh floor below, according to the FDNY and Department of Buildings.

The six hurt workers were taken to local hospitals for ailments that included back, leg and arm injuries, FDNY officials said. All were in stable condition.

The DOB halted all construction and issued a violation for failure to safeguard the site, according to a spokesman.

Tenants forced to use fire escape to enter building

From PIX11:

Tenants of an Upper West Side five-story walk-up were briefly forced to use the fire escape to access their apartments after their landlord told them about plans to renovate the building’s only staircase.

The Department of Buildings has since issued a stop work order on the West 83rd Street building after the tenants, some of whom are elderly, had an emergency meeting with Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal.

The situation was even worse for some tenants. They don't have access to the fire escape from their apartment.

Deadly Manhattan construction accident

From the Daily News:

A construction worker plummeted more than 10 stories to his death after a wooden platform gave way underneath him by the Hudson Yards Monday night.

Roger Vail, 62, of Montgomery, N.Y., was working at 400 W. 33rd St. — which is part of the massive Manhattan West development project by Brookfield Properties — doing a survey on the 16th floor at about 6:40 p.m., when he fell through a platform, police sources said.

He dropped to a 6th floor landing, and medics pronounced him dead at the scene, cops said.

The victim, a surveyor hired by 50 States Engineering — a firm hired by the general contractor, Tishman Construction, officials told the Daily News. He was working to raise a “cocooning system” designed to cover areas of active high-rise construction and prevent falls, officials said.

The city Buildings Department issued a full stop-work order at the building Monday, and issued a violation to the contractor for failing to safeguard the site.

Seneca Avenue crazy crap got stopped

You may remember this big steaming pile from a post here last summer - August 2016. Shortly after that post was made, there was a partial stop work order placed on the site. But not for the questionable mezzanine (DOB made sure to mention that is was A-OK) - for an unsafe scaffold. All these months later, per DOB precords, it doesn't look like they've rectified that situation, and work has seemingly come to a halt.