Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Stop Work Order Wednesdays: Speculator East River Partners 342 10th Street 15 Day letter to revoke.

432 10th Street in South Park Slope (center with brown cornice) sold for $1,600,000 back in March 2012.






  A great deal of the building is making its way into the dumpster.  Stop Work Violation posted.


The owners and developers of 432 10th Street, the East River Partners have received the dreaded Department of Buildings complaint notice

 Re+:  BOROUGH COMMISSIONER HAS ISSUED A 15-DAY LETTER OF INTENT TO REVOKE APPLICATION NUMBER #340028543 ON 3/17/14.  ISSUE DOB STOP WORK ORDER AND NOTE THE PERCENTAGE OF WORK COMPLETED.

Not sure what the Stop Work Order Violation was issued for but the application is under current review.   The SWO violation paperwork is now posted on the fence but the website shows no DOB violations or Environmental Control Board violations or fines.

It could be something as simple as not filing all the correct paperwork like the Building Pavement Plan (BBP) or something much stinkier like a zoning issue or floor area kerfuffle.   
As of today a proper construction fence is up and contractors have started demolishing the front facade by removing the wooden bay. but  I can't vouch for what's going on behind closed doors or in the rear yard at this time.  You can see sky through the upstairs windows so the roof has been removed.  It appears that the interior has been gutted.  What appears to be an engineering monitor of some sort has been fastened to the front facade maybe to detect cracks or movement.  I would guess that the house next door may have been built at the same time so there may be some interconnectedness going on that they are watching.     There are no other complaints on record.  
A tedious 10 minute scan of the building's DoB property profile tells us that this Alt 1? job is hoping to engorge both horizontally and vertically an additional 4,434 square feet.  That's basically doubling what's there now.

They're getting two more floors on top as well as to push out into the rear yard.  So the residential  zoned R6B multifamily structure will go from a 3 to a 4 family and rise in height from 30 feet to 50 feet with permitted obstructions like bulkheads adding 10 feet more.  There will be a new Certificate of Occupancy. 

What complicates the buildable square feet equation some is that the developers have joined tax lots into a single zoning lot with their next door neighbor 430 10th Street.  This is usually done to increase the total size of the new building, if it works.  You can check out the zoning diagram below to see how the rear extension will line up to the neighboring properties.
Mezzanines...You heard me, there are going to be mezzanines with open floors looking out into the rear yard extension.  I think when the DOB plan examiners see that on the plans their eyes spin around in their heads.  This appears to also be a professionally self-certified job. That's like throwing gas on the fire.  
Foundation excavation work will be required for the rear extension.   It's looks like it's going to be a quadruple duplex with cellar recreation space.

The East River Partners have been getting a lot of press on how they have been aggressively investing in Brooklyn buying up non regulated multi-families for all cash and gut renovating them for the "bugaboo set".  ER Partners paid $1.6 million for 432 10 Street back in March of 2012.
 The Real Deal ran a story on them back in 2012.  

Extensive demolition taking place.  The roof is gone, the inside is gutted and I'm guessing the front facade is not far behind.  Can't see how the old faux-stone veneer can be removed from the brick without the walls crumbling.  How is it that there can be this much demolition of the existing structure and not have to be filed as a "New Building"?

Rendering: Christopher V. Papa Architect


Zoning Documents
4 dwelling units with Square Feet diagrammed


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