"With liberty and freedom to build crap"

"This corner on Albert Road and Hawtree Street by the Aqueduct Train Station has been vacant for over four decades. (Hell, maybe more, I am going by how long I have been alive.) Anyway, suddenly this regal looking monstrosity has sprouted on that corner.

I cannot fathom any rationale why someone would build and some moron bureaucrat in the DOB approve building something on this corner which contains a very busy traffic corridor with the Belt Parkway exit that's maybe 30 yards away and an overpass from Howard Beach where the only direction is towards this properties path, much less build something this massive and garish.

This may be the holy grail of Queens Crap and may be the last straw when it comes to the issue of over-development and in the case of this neighborhood, incongruous and ludicrous house building."

JQ LLC, Impunity City (Your City)

The building beat goes on in Woodside

From Sunnyside Post:

Plans for a nine-story building in Woodside have been filed with the Department of Buildings.

The 75-unit corner building would rise to a height of 99 feet at 43-44 51st St., and span just under 60,000 square feet.

Floors two though nine would see a mixture of affordable and market-rate apartments spreading through 51,372 square feet, while the ground floor would hold 8,624 square feet of retail space.

The development also includes an indoor and outdoor recreation room for tenants, a fitness room, and enclosed parking for 31 cars.

Borderline crap sits undone

The St. Nicholas church-to-crap conversion is taking a while.

Everything at this corner is currently an eyesore.

Once again, all this for a supposed 3-family house.

St. Nicholas Ave church-to-crap

I missed the unveiling of this rendering back in 2015 when Curbed put it out there. But I had the misfortune of passing the site recently and saw it on their sign. Yikes.

Believe it or not, this is supposedly going to be a 3-family home.

New permit needed for Garaufis house

From the Times Ledger:

Construction on the house formerly owned by federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis at 218-15 40th Ave. in Bayside had a stop work order slapped on it in July due to revocation of the owners’ Alt-1 permit after the once stately home was torn down.

A spokesman for the city Department of Buildings said the owners have filed for a permit for an entire new building, but have not yet been approved.

The owners of the property were ordered to file for a new work permit in June, a DOB spokesman said. They no longer qualified for an alteration permit and were required to apply for a new building permit if they were approved. But according to a July 14 filing on the DOB website, the department revoked the Alt-1 after an inspection and a stop work order was placed on the site.

The Department of Buildings said the owner, who goes by the name Lisa, had originally filed for an Alt-1 permit restricting renovation to less than 50 percent of the original structure. The plans submitted to the DOB depict an update which would extend the front of the house a few feet. However, neighbors began to worry as the roof was torn off, followed by the top floor of the three-level structure. Finally, the home was reduced to ground level.

Garaufis’ house is believed to have been built circa 1890 and was the one of the personal residences of the Lawrence family, influential members of the early Bayside community. A study conducted by Bayside Historical Society Treasurer Paul Graziano found the Lawrence Estate eligible for the National and State Register of Historic Places. This recognition, however, carries no protection from demolition or alteration.

Ridgewood: Where anything goes!

Feast your eyes on this monstrosity. This is 482 Seneca Avenue in Ridgewood. It actually is turning out to be less hideous than originally planned. Those bay windows are special.

This is an "ALT-1" job (note the piece of original wall at ground level). I was amused by the sandwiching of a mezzanine between the 4th floor and the roof (not allowed), but listed on the Schedule A as between the 1st and 2nd floors. It's also clearly a 5 floor building instead of 4 as listed on the permit.

Garaufis house destroyers forced to get new building permit

From the Times Ledger:

The former home of U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis has made headlines in recent months because of backlash over renovations deemed more than excessive by neighborhood residents.

Now, the city Department of Buildings has ordered the owners to file for a new building permit before construction can continue at 218-15 40th Ave.

The original building plans showed that only the front of the house was to be renovated with additional construction.. But neighbors watched in despair back in April as the roof was torn off and the inside gutted, according to Bonnie Skala Kiladitis, who grew up across the street. Eventually the house was reduced to ground level.

Garaufis’ stately house is believed to have been built circa 1890 and was the one of the personal residences of the Lawrence family, influential members of the early Bayside community. A study conducted by historic preservation consultant Paul Graziano found the Lawrence Estate is eligible for the National and State Register of Historic Places, a recognition that carries no protection from demolition or alteration.

A notice to revoke on the building permit was issued to the owners at the end of April, which would force them to answer objections with the DOB for renovating beyond the limits of the alt-1 permit.

A DOB spokesman has since said the owners will be required to file for a new building permit before moving forward with their building plans, and not an alteration permit.

It is not immediately clear whether any fines will be levied against the owner, a recent New Jersey transplant who identified herself by the name Lisa, but a spokesman from Vallone’s office said the councilman is drafting legislation to prevent work on sites that have a “notice to revoke” on building permits to continue while waiting for an answer to objections.

“We are currently drafting a piece of legislation that would make it so a developer/homeowner would not be allowed to continue work during the period between receiving a notice to revoke and answering the objections that warranted that notice. The bill will be introduced in the fall. We felt that receiving a notice to revoke is significant enough to warrant a stop of work. If you are allowed to continue work while awaiting to answer the objections, the notice to revoke is really more like a ‘notice to finish your work as fast as possible.’ Our goal is to give the DOB as many tools as we can to address issues like these when they come up,” the spokesman said.

You generally aren't getting a notice to revoke without first getting a stop work order, so I'm not sure what this proposed legislation would accomplish. The problem is enforcement.

This is not a new building, Bushwick edition

Apologies for the poor photography on this one (I was a passenger in a moving vehicle at the time).

Before

So the Department of Buildings has decided to okay this obvious new building project at 399 Knickerbocker Avenue as an alteration. There's nothing left here but partial walls.

Now

Remember this as you get nickeled and dimed to death by the city with fines, fees and taxes for everything under the sun.

Alteration permits cost A WHOLE LOT LESS than new building permits. The city is throwing millions upon millions of dollars in revenue down the drain on a yearly basis in order to unofficially subsidize development.

Tell your elected official to stop using you as a piggy bank when there's so much wasted opportunity to collect real money to pay for needed services.

Missing C of O on Hillside

Every once in a while, something is brought to my attention that surprises even me. Take for example, this new building at 85-32 130th Street.

This 4-story structure appears to be fully inhabited, but there is no current C of O for it. And there's a nice Class 1 violation that hasn't been paid.

So it's a Class 1 violation, meaning a high hazard, yet the place is not vacated. I wonder what DOB considers to be really dangerous.

Introducing the Melrose Ballroom

There's a building going up in Astoria called the Melrose Ballroom at 36-08 33rd Street.

Their website advertises it as coming in early 2013, but apparently they're a bit behind schedule.

Here's what the finished product will look like. Hooray for chartreuse!

Just for fun, I decided to see what was there before this new building. Oh, I'm sorry, according to the permits, this is not a new building. There was only supposed to be "INTERIOR DEMOLITION AT FIRST FLOOR, MEZZANINE, AND SECOND FLOOR."

Yeah, okay. They DID get caught, BTW.

The final result will be this.

"Miraculous Greek singers" are scheduled to perform here starting mid-November. Why, you may ask?

Developer caught violating stop work order, fined

Before

After

From PaulGraziano.com:

Several weeks ago, a construction fence went up around 156-10 32nd Avenue, a quiet block in Broadway-Flushing across the street from Bowne Park.  The house's new owner, Jian Wen Zhu, had recently applied for an alteration permit known as an "ALT 1" which specifically states that over 50% of the building must be retained, including the basement or cellar. In other words, an alteration permit means just that: an alteration to an existing building, not a new building.

Two days later, the building was more than 50% demolished; within another two days, almost the entire building had been removed, except for two exterior wall stubs.

Paul Graziano, candidate for the 19th Council District, had contacted the local homeowner association as well as State Senator Tony Avella, and wrote a "Zoning Challenge" to the Department of Buildings, as it was clear that the architect on record, Ling Li, had self-certified a project that violated the R1-2A zoning - New York City's most restrictive - which covers much of Broadway-Flushing.

After a series of 311 calls were made and official complaints were lodged by residents of the area, the Buildings Department sent an inspector, who stated that 'No violation warranted for complaint at time of inspection; site is fenced, gated and secure with permits posted and current for ALT 1 - no workers on site.' 

"This was an outrage," Graziano stated, "as the complaint that was filed with 311 called for a Stop Work Order, as the demolition for the house far exceeded what an ALT 1 permit allows and the permit itself should not have been granted as the floor area was over what is allowed under the R1-2A zone. The 311 operator had listed that the complaint was concerned with safety, and the Buildings inspector responded to that instead of what they were supposed to."

One week later, the Department of Buildings finally responded to the correct complaint, after much pressure from Senator Avella, Graziano and local residents. On Thursday, July 18th, a Full Stop Work Order was served to the owner for demolition contrary to approved plans. However, the contractors at the site continued to work on Friday, July 19th and Monday, July 22nd.

On Monday morning, Graziano and a resident involved with the homeowners association confronted the foreman of the construction crew - which numbered at least a dozen - and engaged him in a heated exchange which lasted for more than 10 minutes. The foreman stated that he was allowed to work and "do maintenance" to the property, and that they hadn't done anything wrong. When pressed as to why there was a Stop Work Order and they were still working, he stated that "the house had some extra rot in it so we had to take down more of it than we thought." He followed this statement with a discussion about how this was America and it was the owner's right to build what he wanted.

That afternoon, again pressed by Senator Avella, Graziano and the homeowners association, the property was inspected by the Buildings Department a third time. A violation of the Stop Work Order was issued for "failure to obey stop work order" and a $5,000 civil fine was levied.

Now, the owner must apply for full demolition and new building permits as well as file new plans, which must be approved by the Department of Buildings.

"I'm glad the Department of Buildings finally did what they were supposed to do," said Graziano, "but it shouldn't have taken so long. More importantly, this house, along with all of the other teardowns that have occurred in the last decade, would have never happened if Broadway-Flushing had become a New York City landmark historic district as more than 85% of the residents have supported. The homeowners association and residents of this area have spent significant time, money and effort to protect their century-old neighborhood from speculative developers."

All of Broadway-Flushing was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and was downzoned in 2009 with the most restrictive "anti-McMansion" zoning in New York City (R1-2A and R2A), both of which were authored and designed by Graziano.

"Last week's victory against the developer who tried to break the restrictive covenants and split a corner property is wonderful and the Stop Work Order is welcome," Graziano stated, "but if Broadway-Flushing had been landmarked almost a decade ago as it deserves, neither of these - nor other - bad development situations would have happened. The house at 156-10 32nd Avenue was a beautiful house and there was absolutely no reason to tear it down in the first place. Should I be lucky enough to be elected by the people of the 19th Council District in November, landmarking Broadway-Flushing and our other historic neighborhoods in the 19th Council District will be one of my absolute top priorities to make sure this doesn't ever happen again."

Stop Work Order / Civil Penalty for 156-10 32nd Avenue can be viewed here:

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaintServlet?requestid=5&vlcompdetlkey=0001648878

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/OverviewForComplaintServlet?requestid=5&vlcompdetlkey=0001651663

http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/ComplaintsByAddressServlet?requestid=7&allbin=4109856&fillerdata=A

A crap above - Bed-Stuy edition

This shot comes from along DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn, but I was just kind of "floored" by what the developer is doing here. Not only are they building up, but it appears that they changed the height of each existing floor. So I suppose, in essence, we have a new building being constructed under an alteration permit. It seems like an awful lot of work. Might as well start from scratch.

Here's the interesting thing...upon looking this one up, I discovered that the permit has been revoked! Maybe they did something hinky with the zoning? Or just ignored the multiple SWOs they received?

Isabella's of Astoria demolished for Muslim school

From Brownstoner Queens:

A one-story mosque at 24-30 Steinway Street in Astoria has been demolished (or not quite demolished, it seems, as there are only alteration permits as opposed to new building permits on file) to make way for a five-story structure that will house a school in addition to religious facilities, according to DOB permits. Based on this DOB violation, it seems safe to surmise that the Al Iman Center (aka the Al Marwa Center) has been operating in one form or another since the mid-1990s.

Okay, Skippy, the mosque hasn't been demolished. Isabella's has been demolished.  You can see the rendering of the school in the window of this Google Maps shot:

This is not a new building, Corona edition

Well here I am in Corona one last time. This is 47-05 104th Street in the very heart of Corona Heights.

There previously were two stores/offices with dwelling units above and a factory at the corner. But they are no more.

Also no more is this mural which actually lent a little bit of character and pride to the neighborhood. You may have died in service to your country, Spc. Bustamante, but your tribute has to go. There's crap to build.

The self-certified project can be summarized as follows:

The architect, Chris Papa, is the very same crapmeister that designed the palazzo stucazzo for Joe Franco at the White House.

"POST APPROVAL AMENDMENT TO ADD TWO STORIES, 22 DWELLING UNITS, OVER EXISTING 1 STORY COMMERCIAL BUILDING. CHANGES TO SCH A & SCH B HIGHLIGHTED. REVISE ADDITIONAL F.A FROM 1080 TO 14,778 SF."

Does this look like an altered building or a new building to you, dear readers? The buildings are completely new, with 22 dwelling units replacing 2. Can you say "overcrowding" and "infrastructure overload?"

I passed by this location before Christmas and there was a makeshift scaffolding actually dangling over the yard next door. Unfortunately, it was at night and by the time I got back there to take photos it was gone. But it was a site to behold.

What a mess - not to mention, the entire thing has a F designation for Factory.

But don't despair, there's 7 off-street parking spaces here somewhere.