Author: Jonathon Sizemore

5Pointz: The Anti-Rebellion Message of the Graffiti Dispute

Graffiti has become much more than spray-painted tags and quickly disappearing pieces on train cars and underpasses. In some quarters it is now high art. Highly prized are works by Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the “Hope” poster Fairey made for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who began as a graffiti artist and whose works today command huge prices, and Banksy, whose street works are carefully preserved.  These dramatic changes in the nature and … <Read More>

Owner Faulted on Luxury Decontrol of East Village Apartment

East Village landlord improperly deregulated luxury apartment while receiving a City J-51 tax benefit. Until 1999, apartment 5M at 187 East 4th Street in Manhattan’s East Village was a rent-stabilized unit with a rent of $1,464 per month. When the apartment became vacant the owner, 72A Realty Associates L.P., installed new windows, closets, cabinets, countertops and other improvements totaling over $18,000 in costs. Based on the improvements, the owner obtained a J-51 real property tax … <Read More>

HPD’s Lien for Shelter Upheld

HPD provided temporary housing for tenants and then filed liens against the tenants’ former landlords for expenses in providing the temporary housing. The Court of Appeals issued one opinion involving two separate cases concerning expenses incurred by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for temporary shelter. In 1995 the Fire Department issued a vacate order affecting two tenants of a building in Brooklyn owned by David Rivera. HPD provided the tenants with temporary … <Read More>

Construction Company Fined $1,600 for No Sidewalk Shed

Construction company failed to erect sidewalk shed when construction reached planned sidewalk shed height. In 2015, the owner of 221 North 9th Street in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn obtained a construction work permit from Buildings to tear down a one-story structure that was previously occupied by the Sugarland Nightclub, a gay bar and nightclub. The owner contracted with King’s USA Group Inc. to replace the club with a four-story 70-foot-tall mixed-use building.

Owner Defeated Tenants’ Loft Claim

Tenants sought loft law protection by claiming that two attached structures on one zoning lot were two separate buildings. A two-story building was constructed at 538 Johnson Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in 1916 using timber and wood planking. A four-story building was constructed adjacent at 75 Stewart Avenue in 1919 using concrete columns, beams and slabs. The four-story structure abuts the eastern wall of the two-story structure, and the stairwell in the … <Read More>

Converted Commercial Building Exempt from Rent Stabilization

Bedford-Stuyvesant developer converted commercial building into residential apartments. 885 Park Avenue Brooklyn LLC owned a commercial building located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn that had been used solely for commercial purposes. Beginning in 1999, 885 Park converted the building into 23 new residential units. The conversion was completed in 2003. In 2011, Daniel Goddard signed a one-year market-rate lease with 885 Park.