155 – 157 Meserole Street. Image Credit: Google Maps.
Neighbor alleged installation of windows in adjacent property interfered with use and enjoyment of his property. A disgruntled property owner claimed that his property was adversely affected when a neighboring building owner, 155 Meserole, LLC, installed new windows on its building. Leonard Sloninski, who owned the property adjacent to the 155 Meserole, LLC, complained to The Department of Buildings that the new windows lowered the value of his own building and prevented him from enjoying his property. Buildings issued a violation to 155 Meserole, LLC, charging that 155 Meserole, LLC had failed to obtain a permit to install the new windows. The Environmental Control Board dismissed the summons. Buildings appealed the decision, but the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings affirmed the dismissal of the violation. (read more…)
540 West 53rd Street, Manhattan. Image Credit: Google Maps
General contractor fined $25,000 for its failure to safeguard job site for construction workers. An employee of a sheet metal subcontractor was injured when he fell approximately 16 feet through a gap between the edge of a sidewalk shed and the face of a building located at 540 West 53rd Street in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen. Buildings cited GC Mega Contracting Group for its failure to safeguard “all persons and property” by not closing the gap with wood planks or equivalent material. Buildings produced photographs showing a cloth-like material covering the gap with a hole in it. Mega responded that the sidewalk shed did not have to conform to the requirements of the Building Code because, as photographs showed, the sidewalk underneath the sidewalk shed was closed to the public. (read more…)
1610 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx. Image Credit: Google Maps
City issued summons for hazardous cracked windowsill on sixth floor of building. On March 26, 2019, a Department of Buildings officer observed a cracked exterior windowsill on the sixth floor of a building owned by Aspen Companies on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. The officer testified that if water were to enter the crack and freeze, a piece of the windowsill would break off, fall six stories, and injure a pedestrian below. Buildings issued Aspen Companies a Class 1 violation pursuant to §28-302.1 of the Administrative Code for failure to maintain a building’s exterior wall and appurtenances. (read more…)
Governor Cuomo addressing the COVID-19 Crisis Image Credit:
Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
All construction permits will need to be active and renewed during the suspension period. On March 30, 2020, the Department of Buildings announced that all work on non-essential construction and demolition sites is suspended for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Buildings made the decision to suspend such construction and demolition following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s amended executive order and the Empire State Development Corporation’s guidelines. The executive order, which required non-essential businesses and nonprofits to limit in-person work to curb COVID-19 transmission, was amended on March 27, 2020 to include the suspension of all non-essential construction.
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200 Amsterdam Avenue Rendering Image Credit: SJP Properties
Advocates applaud decision while developers find decision deeply flawed. On February 15, 2020, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development and the Municipal Art Society of New York, won an Article 78 case regarding the construction of a 668 foot, 52-story condominium building located at 200 Amsterdam Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. New York County Supreme Court Justice W. Franc Perry’s ruling requires the Department of Buildings to revoke the building permit and compel the developers, SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan America, to remove the floors that exceed what is permitted under the Zoning Resolution.
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829 Remsen Avenue, owned by the Rada Corporation. Image Credit: Google Maps
Department of Buildings placed commercial building in program that forces the owner to immediately fix code violations. Rada Corporation is the owner of a commercial building located on Remsen Avenue in Brooklyn. In May 2016, the New York City Department of Buildings issued a violation against the property, noting brick and cracked mortar joints. Buildings determined that due to the severity of the violations, an immediate emergency declaration was warranted. After the owner of the building failed to fix code violations, Buildings hired a contractor to construct a sidewalk shed. (read more…)
