Yet Another Stop Work Order For 232-240 Smith Street After Construction Work Undermines Building Next Door

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Construction site at 232-240 Smith Street at Douglass Street

FDNY at construction site this past Friday, October 5th

The latest S.W.O. issued on 10/05/2018

Damage to adjacent building at 57 Douglass Street

New scaffolding on 57 Douglass Street

No construction site in Carroll Gardens has been more problematic than the one at 232-240 Smith Street at the corner of Douglass Street. Not only has the construction fence around the site taken up the sidewalk for years, but the excavation work has caused quite a lot of problems, which earned it an astonishing number of Stop Work Orders.

And the problems continue to pile up.
Yet another full Stop Work Order was issued by the NYC Department of Buildings after the adjacent property at 57 Douglass Street was compromised.
This past Friday, the NYC Fire Department responded to a 311 call reporting that the small building was shaking and that its façade had developed cracks. The Fire Department stayed on site until Building Department inspectors were able to assess the situation.
By evening,  a scaffolding had been erected in front of 57 Douglass and the S,W.O. issued to the construction site for "failure to protect the adjoining property."

Here is some background on the 232-240 Smith Street site:
The long saga of this construction site started about 12 years ago with the demolition of several one story buildings that housed a few stores and a then-popular Argentinian restaurant named Sur, which helped spark Smith Street's revival. During a decade, nothing happened on the lot except for violations handed out by the NYC Department Of Buildings for 'failure to maintain construction fence."

Finally, in 2015, Commercial Observer reported that "Madison Realty Capital provided Brooklyn-based Second Development Services with a short-term $9 million loan for the acquisition and development of 232 Smith Street." Louis Greco of SDS told the Observer that he is planning a 15,000-square-foot retail building on the site.

D.o.B. permits were filed by OCV Architects shortly afterwards and by the fall of 2016 work finally began and... stopped. Within weeks, the D.o.B. issued a stop work order for "failure to notify DOB within 24-48 hours of the start of excavation" and for 'failure to safeguard all persons and property."

In addition, the site regularly fills up with water and there have been problems with the sewer lines.

To this date, 232-240 Smith Street has amassed an impressive 102 complaints, 48 D.O.B. violations and 73 Environmental Control Board (ECB) violations. 

It had been announced to the community that a Crunch Fitness would be the tenant in this new building. At the rate construction is going, it will be a while before the gym opens.