Board found that owner had been properly monitoring the building. In March 2008, two Buildings officers issued separate notices of violation to the owner of 604 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn for failing to maintain the premises in a safe condition. The first NOV noted that the building was leaning one-half to one inch to the south, and a second NOV issued twelve days later noted that the building was leaning fourteen inches to the south.

At a hearing before an ALJ, the owner said it was aware of the problem and had been monitoring the condition. The owner presented engineers’ reports and surveys dating back to 2005, including surveys from October 2006 and May 2008, showing there had been minimal movement of the building over that time. The ALJ upheld the violations, finding that the owner had failed to establish that it was monitoring the building’s stability when the NOVs were issued. (read more…)

Owner of stalled construction site had an expired construction fence permit. A Buildings officer inspected a construction site owned by Honawatie Kharran after receiving a complaint about a broken construction fence. Although no one was working at the site, the construction fence had an expired permit posted on it. The officer issued Kharran a notice of violation for working without a permit, a violation of the Administrative Code.

At a hearing, Kharran’s contractor said no work had been performed since Buildings revoked the site’s building permit three months prior to the NOV’s issuance. The contractor claimed that he tried to renew the work and fence permits, but had been unsuccessful. (read more…)

Hoist at former Deutsche Bank building had broken door and brake. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation hired Regional Scaffolding and Hoisting Co. and Safeway Environmental Corp. to assemble exterior scaffolding on the former Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan. Aside from the scaffolding, the joint venture was also hired to install a hoist for personnel and material. Lower Manhattan Development hired Bovis to deconstruct the building after the joint venture completed its work, and Bovis agreed to assume responsibility for the maintenance of the hoist once Bovis accepted the joint venture’s work. After the work was completed, an officer from Buildings observed a defective car door and machine brake on the hoist, and issued Regional a notice of violation for failing to maintain the hoist in a safe manner.

At a hearing, Regional argued that it could not be found liable for the violation because Lower Manhattan Development was the owner of the premises and that the joint venture, not Regional, contracted to install the hoist. Regional claimed that the maintenance responsibility for the hoist had already transferred to Bovis at the time of the NOV. Buildings countered that Regional was a proper party because it was the applicant of record for the hoist installation permit. The ALJ agreed with Regional and dismissed the NOV, finding that Lower Manhattan Development was the owner of the premises. (read more…)

New historic district in Chelsea consists of twelve rowhouses and includes Underground Railroad stop. Landmarks voted to designate as the Lamartine Place Historic District twelve rowhouses located at 333 through 359 West 29th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, Manhattan. William Torrey and Cyrus Mason built the three-and-a-half story Greek Revival rowhouses between 1846 and 1847 on what was then known as Lamartine Place.

James S. Gibbons and his wife, Abigail Hopper Gibbons, a renowned abolitionist, purchased the building at 337 West 29th Street in 1851. A short time later the Gibbons family also purchased the house next door at 339 West 29th Street. Family friend Joseph Hodges Choate cited 339 as being a stop on the Underground Railroad, noting that he dined with the Gibbons and a fugitive slave at the residence in 1855. Several homes on Lamartine Place were damaged during the Draft Riots of 1863, including 339 and a rowhouse at 335 owned by the New York Tribune editor Samuel Sinclair. (read more…)

Fashion Institute of Technology’s proposed academic building required street wall height and setback approvals. The Fashion Institute of Technology, a college of the State University of New York, applied to BSA for a special permit to construct a ten-story addition to its existing nine-story academic building on the south side of West 28th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The 15,092 sq.ft. site is currently occupied by a walled-in courtyard and surrounded by FIT’s academic and student life facilities.

The design calls for a building with a 134-foot street wall that would set back eight feet, before rising to a maximum height of 144 feet. The plan includes creating between the existing building and the new structure a full-height atrium that would allow natural light to reach all floors of both buildings. FIT required a special permit because the site’s C6-2 zoning regulations permitted a maximum street wall height of 85 feet with a minimum twenty-foot setback, and because the building would penetrate the sky exposure plane. (read more…)