The former Abadi/ Vichar, Inc. building in early 2009
Late 2008
Reason # 1
In February 2009, the contractor, Perry Ferrara, had his crews demolish the roof of the building, which once housed 47th Street Photo. But he did so without the knowledge of the Buildings Department and without receiving the proper demolition permit. The roof contained asbestos, so the unsupervised demolition was rather problematic. The demo earned the site a full stop-work order for "hazardous conditions and lack of public protection.
Reason #2
Predictably, the structurally weakened building collapsed on August 11th, 2009. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but quite a few cars were buried under the rubble. Interestingly enough, when the owners of the cars contacted Mr. Ferrara's insurance company to file their claims, they were told by the claims adjuster that the contractor is not covered for this type of incident. It would appear that he is only insured for interior sheet rock installation, not the demolition of an entire building.The car owners still need to be reimbursed for damages. If that is indeed correct, one would suppose that the Buildings Department would have caught the mistake.
Reason # 3
The Abadi property has been declared a brownfield site due to the contaminated soil and coal tar left behind by the old Brooklyn Union Gas Company and various other industries. It is also next to the equally toxic six acre Public Place site, which the city intends to turn into a mixed-use development with over 700 units of low and middle -income housing after remediation. Just this week, the Stop-Work Order was lifted and demolition resumed. Today, crews were digging away at the cement slab of the old building. Whatever is underneath that slab is rather nasty and dangerous stuff. If any special steps had been taken because of the toxicity in the ground, it was not apparent yesterday, when I took the video above. In addition, the site has not been secured. Anyone can slip through the big gap in the fencing. Given the history of the demolition of Mr. Abadi's property so far, it is important to keep our collective eyes and ears open. The owner and his contractor have been way too negligent so far.
filmed October 6th 2009
Abadi Warehouse: Carroll Gardeners Finally Clued In On Demo
Carroll Gardeners To Get Answers About Abadi Building At CB6 Meeting Tonight
When 'The East India Chemical Works Company' Made Fertilizers On The Shores Of The Gowanus
.JPG)
17 comments:
So...no one has been injured, hurt or fined? Sounds like its been smooth sailing so far.
Just kidding.
But, Katia, lets practice some responsible journalism here. Some of the DOB violations are from 2004, and some of the ECB violations are for not having the permit posted; hardly a life-threatening concern for the neighborhood.
Tens of thousands of dollars damage... tens of thousands of dollars in fines (check DOB)... The building fell in the street and crushed cars! This is a hazardous site with an irresponsible owner and a dangerously incompetent contractor who has no insurance.
Protect the good citizens of Gotham Batman and get a clue.
Chopper
Yeah that may be true Batman but not posting a permit prevents the public from Identifying the contractor. The DOB regularly allows uninsured/underinsured contractors to work in Brooklyn. Contractors will get permits and then drop the policy to save money. Doubt car owners will ever see a dime from this disaster. Typical Crooklyn demolition job, by the way. No site safety plans.. no dust control... They filed Asbestos waiver paperwork but probably never had tests done....
AND THESE ECB FINES WILL NEVER BE PAID>
Where is the EPA on this? Why haven't they responded to this clear violation that is dispursing contaminants into our air quality!
Chopper -
Perhaps you failed to read the portion of my post that said "just kidding".
9:34 - Your statement that this is not a life-threatening concern could not be more wrong. This site is on highly toxic ground. The soil is exposed, blowing who knows where into our community. Margaret
The toxic soil...that has been exposed to the wind for years, blowing into my backyard on 3rd Street?
Or maybe it's the toxic soil that is somehow ok for little children to handle on Gowanus clean-up day?
I'm just pointing out that these concerns have existed for probably a decade now...
Or maybe it's just whining and moaning because there will be a development there that is out of scale with the neighborhood?
Batman, Cowanus Conservancy had that event where people, including children, were invited to clean up along the Gowanus. Many voiced that this was totally irresponsible. That toxic soil may be a joke to you to dismiss, but science is no joke. Toxicity is dangerous, deadly. That's the very definition of it. So if you have it blowing in your backyard, I'm genuinely sorry for you.
Hi Batman,
For 150 years or more our neighborhood has lived with Gowanus toxins. Demolition dust from the toxic soils of 3rd and Bond mean nothing to people like Margaret.
FROGGS and anti-superfund people are against ALL change and see the superfund as a means to that end.
Hi All:
A quick reminder. This is an environmental issue. NOT a development issue.
Nothing else but science should be taken into account when deciding on Superfund.
9:09 - Please don't mischaracterize FROGG as being anti-change. FROGG's mission statement is very clear: Clean water, clean land. That would be a VERY BIG CHANGE in Gowanus.
Margaret
While real estate prices are plummeting everywhere, they have stayed pretty stable in our neighborhood, because “New development didn’t dominate the market, so as a result you didn’t have as large of a drop,” Toll Bros. is SLASHING its prices in its mega- Williamsburg project because units are NOT MOVING! If you don't want your property value to plummet, and your quality of life to do the same with the increased density it brings, then beware of big development projects a la Toll and their ilk. Don't take my word for it - just read the report here:http://www.tregny.com/content/press_archives/2009/10/05/finding-a-bottom-in-brooklyn/
Surely even Batman and his sidekick can acknowledge that when neighborhood resident's cars are being crushed in a demolition of a building being paid for by National Grid, and those same residents cant get reimbursed because the contractor has no insurance there is something wrong.
Why cant Nat Grid make things right? Why cant they oversee a process they are responsible for and are financing? What does this say about our ability to trust Nat Grid to do their share in the cleanup of the canal if they cant even get this simple first step right?
Chopper
Katia,
See the comments above. Margaret, FROGG and other EPA supporters are concerned about real estate prices and Superfund limits new development which sustains their property values.
Most of the residential proposed for Gowanus is affordable. EPA supporters want to keep poor people out of the neighborhood and housing prices high.
The rich white people moving into the property on 3rd/Bond are just dandy!
Hi Anon 2:30PM
Luxury, affordable, rich, poor....again, this is an environmental issue. First comes the cleaning of the canal. And the agency that has the best track record
in cleaning up toxic sites is the EPA.
That is all there is to it.
2:30 -who are you kidding. Do you REALLY believe that claptrap about the proposed developments to be for affordable housing? Yeah? Billions of dollars poised to be invested in Gowanus for the good of the people. You're off your rocker.
JUST TO CLARIFY
IN NO WAY WAS THIS FAULT OF MR. ABADI AND NEITHER WAS THERE ASBESTOS COMING FROM THE ROOF. IF YOU CHECK CITY FILES, PERRY FERRARA IN FACT HELD THE RIGHT PERMITS FOR THE JOB AND ACCIDENTLY CAUSED A WALL TO FALL WHICH WAS COMPLETELY COVERED BY INSURANCE. SO PLEASE BEFORE YOU WRITE YOUR DUMB STORIES, GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT. MR. ABADI IS NOW WORKING WITH NATIONAL GRID AND THE NEW YORK GOVERNMENT TO CLEAN UP THE SITE ALONG WITH 3 OTHER SITES AND THE GOWANUS CANAL.
I KNOW ITS BEEN A LONG TIME FOR THIS ANSWER BUT I RECENTLY STUMBLED UPON THIS PAGE AND WANTED TO LEAVE FEEDBACK BEING THAT I AND MY BROTHER ARE COORDINATORS OF THIS SITE
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