Thursday, September 10, 2015

The Long-Stalled 'Styrofoam' House On DeGraw Street May Get Completed After All

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The 337 DeGraw Street site in 2010
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The residential project at 337 DeGraw Street has been stalled for quite a few years now and many in Carroll Gardens have wondered when it would be completed. Nicknamed the 'styrofoam' building because of the Insulating Concrete Forms used in its construction,  construction halted at the site years ago.

A one-story garage once stood on this spot, but it was demolished to make way for a 40 feet high, 4 story, 4 unit townhouse.  Permits were first approved by the NYC Department of Buildings in 2009.
However, construction fences were  only erected in 2011 and when the actual construction actually began, it moved forward slowly. Along the way, the site collected several stop-work orders and violations.  Construction stopped altogether a few years ago.

Now, it would appear that the residential building will be completed after all. Just recently, a brand new rendering has been attached to the construction fence.  A quick check on the DoB website shows that the violations have been resolved and the latest full stop work order , issued in 2014, was lifted at the beginning of August 2015.

The original 2009 construction permits have also been re-issued this past month. The application shows the same owner as before, but the contractor is now Leeco Construction Corporation of Brooklyn.

According to Wikipedia, the insulating Concrete Forms used for this construction is "a system of formwork for reinforced concrete usually made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors, and roofs."
This construction system has not been widely used in Carroll Gardens or Brooklyn.

Interestingly, the original house at #337 DeGraw was once the home of John Dwyer "a rough, well known to police" who murdered someone with a billiard cue in a bar on Atlantic Avenue in 1880. Read more about it in this 1880's article from the New York Times Archive.


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Read entire article here
What do you think about the new building?  Glad to see construction move forward?




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Uglier finished than unfinished.

Katia said...

you may be right about that.

Anonymous said...

What became of John Dwyer? I couldn't find any information about the aftermath of his crime.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Apparently these styrofoam blocks should only be left exposed to the sun (uv light) for a year otherwise it oxidizes. From memory the styrofoam blocks on this house have been exposed for a few years now - the blocks turning yellow/off white is a sure sign that the blocks have degraded. I hope for the eventual buyer's sake that it is only the surface layer that has oxidized and when enclosed behind the surface layer that any further oxidation/degradation will stop. I also wonder if toxins are released (and will continue to be released) when the blocks become degraded and are then sealed behind external walls.

source: http://www.eco-block.com/training/faq.aspx