Our indefatigable Greenpoint correspondent sent us this photo of the Monitor Street Sandwich. This particular picture is absolutely worth a thousand words, so we will not go on at length. We will simply says that it reminds us of something we once saw in Houston or, possibly, Shanghai, and that it is not to be […]

[Read more →]

That petition about the quality of life and development issues surround the Park Slope VUE at 162 16th Street was taken to Community Board 7 this week and the board is reported to hve voted unanimously to endorse the petition. Activist Aaron Brashear has sent out this email: Bo Samajopoulos, representing the Concerned Citizens of […]

[Read more →]

Anyone that reads GL probably has a sense that Greenpont is one of the frontier areas of development and construction in New York City, a sort of Wild Western Edge of Brooklyn where virtually anything goes and the Department of Buildings seemingly fears to tread. Anyone that wants to read up, can head over to […]

[Read more →]

It’s pile driving and drilling time again in the Burg as two buildings that have been moving toward construction look like they’re getting underway. The project on the right is at 187 N. 8th Street at N. 8th and Driggs, on the site of the Wonder Foods building that was demolished about year ago. It […]

[Read more →]

These excellent signs come from the construction site of the Argyle Park Slope on Fourth Avenue at Seventh Street in what the developers call “Park Slope” and we tend to call Gowanus.

[Read more →]

Picture having this building as a next door neighbor or, even, on the block. It’s 146 Diamond Street and the photo comes courtesy of our Greenpoint correspondent, aka Miss Heather of New York Shitty, who writes that this “eyesore” has been “untouched for months.” The site appears destined to have a new four-story building with […]

[Read more →]

Williamsburg’s Finger Building, whose official address is 144 N. 8th Street, gets another turn before officialdom today. It is going before the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) for an extension of time to build a taller structure. The Community Board has voted against a taller building. The hearing takes place at 10AM at 40 […]

[Read more →]

If it’s Monday, it means there is a 95 percent chance we have photos and/or video of illegal construction work in Williamsburg (at least, of work we believe to be illegal, having been unable to find evidence of permits for it on the Department of Buildings website.) Today’s Medal winners are two longtime favorites, 90 […]

[Read more →]

It’s official. The scaffolding is going up on Williamsburg’s old cabbage processing plant, aka The Giant Fart Cloud Building, and the demolition crews are on their way. The real fun, however, will begin when excavation starts. The Fart Cloud site–formally known as 5 Roebling–is across Roebling Street from the Roebling Oil Field and potentially within […]

[Read more →]

Like any good Brooklyn neighborhood effort, the one to ask for “responsible and lawful development” in the South Slope and at 162 16th Street (aka the Vue) quickly morphed into an online effort. As to the Vue, the iPetition says: Please help ensure the safety and security of our community in the face of the […]

[Read more →]

The tall South Slope building at 162 16th Street known as the Vue may be on the market, but the battle against it by residents isn’t over. In an email, circulating a new petition that is partly aimed at the development, neighborhood activist Aaron Brashear calls the building an “illegal eyesore.” Resident Bo Samajopoulos of […]

[Read more →]

The system works in one tiny case. Or, at least, the laws of coincidence do. We featured this “Hanging Stop Sign” at N. 9th and Wythe a couple of weeks ago. When we swung past the other day, we found it had been dutifully repaired, even if it’s a little low. No such luck with […]

[Read more →]

We noted the coming of the marketing effort for the Argyle Park Slope condos last week. The banners recently went up at the construction site as well. According to the Department of Buildings website, there is still a Stop Work Order on the project for damaging an adjacent building. We personally don’t consider the address, […]

[Read more →]

What is pictured here is both Sunday work and, to our little minds, profoundly unsafe. This is 242 Bedford Avenue, a building that is being “altered,” but for which ultimate plans are unclear. (It is part of the big block for which Quadriad Development has bizarre development plans that include trying to get a zoning […]

[Read more →]

We had no intention of posting something about 525 Clinton Avenue, a 13-story building going up between Atlantic and Fulton Avenues. The building itself has been extensively covered by Brownstoner, for instance, here and here. When we passed by, however, we encountered one of the most god awful rackets we’ve ever heard coming from a […]

[Read more →]

This is 84 Eagle Street in Greenpoint. It’s a four-story building that will have eight units. The photo comes from our Greenpoint correspondent, who notes: “I checked out 84 Eagle Street recently because one of my readers tipped me off to a particularly vile pile of dog doo located there. Strangely enough, I was unable […]

[Read more →]

What would a week be without a Williamsburg demolition or construction site wide open to adventurous members of the public? So it is this week with 580 Union Avenue, aka the old Manhattan Chocolate Factory. For those that are into making chocolate or candy, we did notice that a lot of those chocolate trays you […]

[Read more →]

Paying attention to the rampant violations of work hours and stop workers can be a rich and rewarding endeavor, although not necessarily for the victims. Take the case of 53 Java Street, a project designed by Brooklyn architect Robert Scarano, in Greenpoint. What you are looking at is a photo of a truck that tipped […]

[Read more →]

That was fast. Yesterday the New York Post reported that the Stop Work Order at The Modern on N. 7th Street–a development that we’ve chronicled extensively–had been lifted. We also blogged about it over at Curbed. The Modern (205 N. 7th Street), you might recall, had problems with damaging a building next door, busting a […]

[Read more →]

Looking for a building that could compete for being the poster child for what ails the system that is supposed to regulate construction? It appears that 143 Huron Street in Greenpoint is in the running. We will get to the narrative from our Greenpoint Correspondent in a moment. First, however, we will note that it […]

[Read more →]

70 Berry Street in Williamsburg is a gift that keeps on giving and giving. This is our third time featuring the crappy fence at this construction site, which we have often found open . The only thing that seems to change, in fact, is the status of the site. Once, it was a cleared lot. […]

[Read more →]

Our Greenpoint correspondent sent us this photo, which was the result of some meanderings around East Williamsburg and Bushwick. She didn’t get the exact address, but if you look at the photo you can understand anyone’s reluctance to approach the building permit on the construction fence. She writes: Look at the angle of that “chute” […]

[Read more →]

Today, we are presenting the Department of Buildings Triathlon. You can view Event 1 (The Late Night Concrete Pour) here, and Event 2 (311 Calling) here. The Department of Buildings might want to get their Stop Work Order Patrol over to Bushwick. Our Greenpoint correspondent filed these photos of a new development at 100 Jefferson […]

[Read more →]

Called 311 to complain about a construction-related problem–say, illegal after-hours work–lately? Some of GL’s readers have, and the results are not heartening. There were a number of comments yesterday in our item about people getting frustrated with making complaints to the Department of Buildings. We believe they are indicative of some, uh, problems with both […]

[Read more →]

Wonder why people get insane about developments and the city’s lack of response? Try this little story, which was posted on newyorkshitty–which does a superb job of chronicling construction, safety and quality of life issues that should be of interest to a certain city agency. Here you go: Since 9:30 p.m. a cement mixer & […]

[Read more →]