Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Disaster Creation: 315 12th Street Plays Patty Cake


State Farm Insurance has this great toy that allows you to plug in any address and by using google maps, produces a very personal, animated, end of the world scenario featuring bipedal deathbots.





Back in the real world 315 12th Street   Like a pig in shit the excavator mixes the batter for what's churning out to be one hell of a dookie brownie.  One More Folded Sunset is chronicling the assbaking.











Wrong again

Stop Work Order Partially Rescinded to install 3x10 lagging to shore up the cave in.
Missing Paper

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

383 12th Street: Permits Granted for Stalled Money Pit

383 12th Street:  South Slope cellar accrues over $30,000 in unpaid ECB fines This recent photo pictured above pretty much shows what condition the lot was left  in some 10 years ago...A debris filled hole in the ground. You can still see the old foundation's brick footprint.

Signs of Life
 Looks like the developer/owner of this South Slope 25' wide 100' deep empty lot between 6th and 7th Avenues is going ahead with plans to construct a new 4 story building with 8 residential units. At least a new construction fence has been installed with active permit signs posted.

The original vacant 2 story 2 family building was demolished in 2002 after a failure to maintain/ open to the elements/ unsecured property violation sometime in 2000.  After demolition work was signed off in 2003 Department of Buildings then approved new building plans in 2004 for the 8 residential units but no further work was done at the site. Last year, August 2012, a post approval application was approved for the planned new building informing the DOB that there was to be a change of architects on the project.

B.E.S.T  Team Aggravated Escalating Monetary Penalties
Since demolition, this cellar hole has somehow managed to acquire 19 DOB and Environmental Control Board (ECB) violations, 15 of which are still open and not in compliance, including 7 violations for work without a permit.   Incredibly this stalled site has racked up more than $30,000 in unpaid fines over the last decade, most related to the protective construction fence not being properly maintained and permitted.  

Certifying Correction:
In order to close a violation on your property, you must certify correction at the Administrative Enforcement Unit (AEU) at 280 Broadway, 5th Floor in Manhattan, in addition to paying the penalty. The Certificate of Correction form is available online (see link below) or at the AEU window. Evidence of the payment of imposed civil penalties associated with the violation must also be submitted.
AEU will not clear any Work Without a Permit violation without proof of civil penalty payment in the form of a receipt from cashier for payment and/or a written determination that the penalty is not required for the violation and the reason for that determination. The determination will be indicated on the “LL58/88 Affidavit of Registered Architect or Professional Engineer” Form with all necessary documentation and proof of payment.


Links: 

PDF  "Falling Apart at the Seams.  A Critical Analysis of New York City's Failure to Enforce its Building Code and a Road Map to the Future."   By Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer

  Form AEU2: Certificate of Corrections

PDF   Certification Requirements for the Top 25 ECB Violations

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Prospect Hardware Cocooned.







Major interior and exterior metamorphoses for the old aluminum sided Prospect Hardware on the corner of 17th Street and 7th Avenue across from PS 10.   Peeking through the black mesh veil reveals a new coat of stucco, and big glass. A lot of glass, floor to ceiling.

In the old school Prospect Hardware everything was hung everywhere from hooks or held in wooden bins or had to be found by the guy at the counter, sometimes in back where the customers never can go.  You had to personally  ask for what you needed for a specific job and, based on your ability to explain, you would or would not receive said item.   As for windows I do not recall any.   It certainly met the definition of a "man cave".

They Orthodoxically closed early on Fridays, but you already knew that if you were a patron.

 In the last decade or so South Slope old time bodega owners have been busy updating their store fronts.    Lotto posters, stacked saint candles, and toppled faded fabric softener bottles are out.   They are being replaced by big glass windows sustainably shaded by hemp awnings, colored that certain tint of green signifying  Organic.   Displayed in baskets, locally woven by adderal addicted stay at home dads, are seasonal dragon fruits and virginal-thigh rolled buttery croissants.
(Please check out my Etsy page if you have time.)

Prospect Hardware doesn't even have its own blog, which is why I'm being urged to tell you about it here.  I will post an updated photo of the new exterior the minute she emerges.



Vintage

Vintage Seventh Avenue Streetscape


Wednesday, August 07, 2013

289 13th Street: Stalled Six Years Site Shows Signs of Life.

 Architect Benjamin Ellis of the Ellis + Donnelly Studio has recently filed new building applications  for the long stalled site 289 13th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.  Original building plans were filed way back in 2006 but soon sank after complaints of unsafe foundation excavation attracted Brooklyn Department of Buildings inspectors who issued an immediate Stop Work Order violation  shutting the entire site down in 2007.


289 13th Street:  Plans call for a 4 story 50 foot tall residential building with 8 dwelling units.  Looks like 2 basement units with cellar accessory space, 2 units on the 1st floor, 2 units on 2nd floor, and 2 more units on the 3rd floor.








From the IMBY Archives:
Progress Report  287 289 13th Street


Unlucky 13th Street