Partial Collapse: 223 Kent Avenue

06/02/2009 | 2 Comments

48N1.jpg
223 Kent Avenue
Collapse was at the far left in photo
Photo: Property Shark


As reported on Curbed, there was a partial wall collapse at 223 Kent Avenue (48 North 1st Street) this afternoon. I went by after work, and it was a pretty amazing sight.

As Curbed alluded to, the new building under construction next door was pouring concrete for a side wall. This side wall was supposed to abut against 48 North 1st, but when the concrete started pouring, the end wall of the old building did not hold. As a result, the end wall at the third floor collapsed, dumping all of the concrete into the building. Most important, no one was hurt (and there were people in the building when this happened). By the time I got there (around 7:00), DOB had things remarkably under control. I could see shoring being installed inside the building, and DOB’s forensic engineer was running the stabilization effort. It is possible that wall itself will be fixed by this time tomorrow, although how soon the residents will be able to move back in is not clear.



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Finger Building Owner Agrees to Height Cap

From Phil DePaulo, confirmation of a rumor I had been hearing – the Finger Building (now the Albero) will not grow any taller than its current 110′. Still big, but a finished building is better that a rusting colossus.

The Promised Land

Greenpoint Gazette on North Brooklyn parks (another self-serving link, and an old one at that).

From Gowanus to Venice

Times editorial notebook comes out in favor of Superfunding the Gowanus, saying “Brooklyn can handle the label.” Indeed.

What Passes for Optimism

05/31/2009 | 2 Comments

Regarding that article in the Real Estate section in which I was quoted, ThatGreenpointBlog (in the course of saying some nice things about me – the feeling is mutual) has taken exception to the “optimistic view of Greenpoint” conveyed by the article.

Golly, it was an article in the Real Estate section (and a good one, at that). If you were expecting a hard-hitting investigative piece on the state of Greenpoint after the collapse of the world economy, you’re reading the wrong section of the paper. Besides, I have to say that I’m hard pressed (having reread the article a couple of times) to find the rampant cheerleading. Can an article that talks about the GTM fire, a 17-million gallon oil spill, Newtown Creek Superfunding, a waterfront wasteland, a 20% year-over-year drop in real estate prices, and the lack of promised parks and open space really be that optimistic?

And for the record (I’m looking at you, Commenter #4, “Bri” – Community Board 1 voted against the 2005 rezoning because it was too much development, not enough affordable housing, not enough protection for local industry and not enough parks and open space. You can look it up (here too).



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