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Brooklyn, NY - Williamsburg Has Highest Rate In Stalled Building Sites |
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Block after block in the trendy Brooklyn community and a few adjacent streets in Greenpoint have been declared stalled construction sites by the city.
A team of building inspectors found 143 stalled sites around the city. But the cluster of lots in Williamsburg, where development was white-hot just two years ago, is the biggest.
By contrast, The Bronx and Queens each had just 14 stalled construction sites, and Staten Island had 13, city records show.
There were 39 in Manhattan and 63 in Brooklyn.
Philip DePaolo, who moved from The Bronx to Williamsburg in 1979, said the neighborhood looks like the arson-scarred streets he left behind.
"It looks like I never left," said DePaolo, comparing his old neighborhood to Williamsburg today.
"The problem we're having now is that we're starting to get squatters in these buildings and lots," said DePaolo. "Blight draws crime, and if you have blocks and blocks of vacant lots with no people, that creates a problem."
DePaolo pointed to broken construction fencing surrounding some of the sites and piles of blankets and cardboard shacks left behind by homeless squatters who spend nights there.
Officials say they're working on the problem as a growing number of developers struggle with financing in a slumping housing market.
In February, the Department of Buildings designated a stalled-sites unit with five inspectors to identify and monitor sites where construction work has stopped.
"We created this unit to ensure stalled job sites are safely maintained until work can resume," said Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri.
Developers have responsibility to keep construction sites safe, whether work is ongoing or suspended, and "we are going to hold them to it," he said.
Buildings officials and City Council members have drawn up a bill that would create incentives for owners of stalled sites to maintain their property by granting unlimited extensions of building permits if they follow the rules.
Under current law, developers who let construction stop for a year lose their permits, forcing them to go back through the arduous and expensive process of getting new ones once they are ready to resume work.
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Read Comments (10) — Post Yours »
1
Jul 06, 2009 at 07:31 AM Anonymous Says:
Most or all buildings in the Chasidic area are going to completion. The issues are in the North where the speculative chances were much higher.
2
Jul 06, 2009 at 07:31 AM Anonymous Says:
The biggest problem is the NYC DOB itself. Unlike years ago, everyone is in Cover your butt mode and nobody has authority to get anything done. The DOB is not business friendly. They shut everyone down and make it impossible to proceed. Hundreds of bogus "objections", fees, fines, and charges means nobody can build. This is criminal and killing economic development. Fix it, Mike!!!!!!!
3
Jul 06, 2009 at 07:26 AM Anonymous Says:
'Developers have responsibility to keep construction sites safe, whether work is ongoing or suspended, and "we are going to hold them to it," he said'
Great move! The developer has no money to complete the project, so add some additional costs to assure that the project never gets completed. Here's an idea, why not fine the developer for each day the project is 'stalled'?
4
Jul 06, 2009 at 07:50 AM Avrohom Abba Says:
Mr. Bloomberg could take care of all that financing in his usual way whenever he needs money. All he has to do is to send 1,000 of his best 300 pounders with the large sunglasses to middle class neighborhoods to give double the fines for parking violations. Then, when the middle class people get hurt and frustrated even more than they already are, they will move out. When they move out, Mr. Bloomberg will get the city he really wants; a city loaded with only the very rich and the very poor. Also, he can harrass the middle class another way. He can send out his army of garbage inspectors to give tickets for various garbage violations.
5
Jul 06, 2009 at 08:00 AM Anonymous Says:
“ 'Developers have responsibility to keep construction sites safe, whether work is ongoing or suspended, and "we are going to hold them to it," he said'
Great move! The developer has no money to complete the project, so add some additional costs to assure that the project never gets completed. Here's an idea, why not fine the developer for each day the project is 'stalled'? ”
You made my day. Thanx
6
Jul 06, 2009 at 08:24 AM Anonymous Says:
Mike Bloomberg, never ever know and understand what means to be a GC on a site.
He basic screwd all developers, investors, and the entire real estate industry.
Rudy was terrific, and mike is a disgrace.
Most empty lots, and steel stalled projects are a)stop bank finance, b) stop DOB order.
The DOB is a department who don't know anything, beside giving violations and fines, its like the traffic cops at the meters, where we all forget the real reason why the meters where installed in the first place.
We all forgot why we need a building and real estate industry, before rudy was mayor it was the same what mike bloomberg is doing now slowly.
He is a freak, he is a ignorance park avenue jew, and he don't care for the little one.
A shame of us why we vote for him in the first place (maybe mark green would be worse?) but fredy ferrer would not.
7
Jul 06, 2009 at 10:18 AM Anonymous Says:
Kol kores from rabunim about not selling out our community did not help, so god has his own ways to deal with such money suckers.
8
Jul 06, 2009 at 01:39 PM Anonymous Says:
To No. 7. You are very right! It's "Meharsayich U'Machrivayich Mimehch Yaytzyahu!!"
9
Jul 06, 2009 at 04:53 PM Anonymous Says:
“ To No. 7. You are very right! It's "Meharsayich U'Machrivayich Mimehch Yaytzyahu!!" ”
All of these apartments were meant for hipsters. Their population grew in Williamsburg (hipster Williamsburgh) between 1997 and 2007, from 3000 to 30,000. It was about to grow to 300,000 in 2017, so this is refreshing news. Every one of these “unmarried” hipsters has all the time in the world to write and call every elected official, to push bike lanes, toeivo marriage, and the sewerization of Brooklyn. Good bye and good riddance.
10
Jul 07, 2009 at 06:13 AM Gazing at unfinished properties Says:
What about prv builders who think they can get away with building houses without following orders, like building porches which are illegal, building attics which are illegal. Then the inspecters come and stop them from finishing the job due to violations. The property is half finished, stays that way for years!. People use that lot to throw garbage, spraypaint all over the walls etc. Then there are builders that build homes and don't care to protect the homes that are next door. They leave their walls cracked, sidewalks cracked etc..I hate to say it, but those builders are our yiddelech. Big chillel hashem.