Uneeda Biscuit Building Crumbling

 541 Fourth Avenue/146 15th Street is crumbling, threatening to take its vintage cracker  advert with it. 

"The National Soda Cracker,  Uneeda Biscuit."  
You can barely make out the National Biscuit Company's "In-Er-Seal" logo just to the left of the 2nd floor window.  In 2009, Nabisco discontinued making the century old Uneeda biscuit out of concern that the product was not as profitable as its other lines.  The Uneeda biscuit, with its patented waxpaper In-Er-Seal wrapping, made grocery store cracker barrels obsolete.

15th Street side:  The roofs have caved in over these three unused garages.

An open mortar joint runs the height of the building where the front and side facades meet.  Exposed  wooded support beams span the gap over the bricked up vacant store front.  There is also a serious bulge in the wall along the 15th Street side where most of the brick mortar has washed away over time. The rear wall has also been compromised.

Brooklyn's Fourth Avenue suffers from delusions of grandeur.    Massive new construction from Henry Radusky and Bricolage Designs looms over the Prospect Expressway just around the corner.   

 I smell DEMO. 
This vacant three story, mixed residential and commercial use building is located on a 20'x90' corner lot  zoned R8A with a C2-4 commercial overlay.  The C of O indicates a ground floor medical office with two apartments above,   Any real property developers out there wishing to give the South Slope another finger building should make this owner an offer she can't refuse.

DOB records indicate FDNY filed a complaint with the Buildings Department back on March 21st stating   Re:   BUIDING IS VACANT WITH OPEN CEILINGS THREWOUT WITH GARBAGE FROM FLOOR TO CEILING THREWOUT. EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS WITH NUMEROUS HOLES."  
The spray painted yellow square with an X inside indicates to emergency service providers, (FDNY), that interior hazards exist to such a degree that interior operations may be conducted only after examination, and with extreme caution. The RO above the square stands for "Roof Open".  The FDNY defines a vacant building as a structure which is considered to be completely unoccupied and all efforts to maintain the building in a livable condition have been abandoned by
the owner. 

From Firefighting Procedures Vacant Building Fires ( PDF link)
"The Fire Department is charged with the protection of life and property from the ravages of fire... However, as has been emphasized, the life hazard at vacant building fires is almost solely that of our operating members...  The Primary Emphasis in Vacant Building Operations is that of EXTERIOR ATTACK." 

With two open ECB violations for failure to maintain the building (loose bricks and cracked mortar joints)  issued back in January, and again in February, the owner appears to be in no hurry to make repairs.  There does appear to be an electrical application filed for exterior lighting for a sidewalk shed, although no permits have been approved for the shed itself. 

"Lest you forget, we say it yet, Uneeda Biscuit."