City Seen

A Tale of Two Towers

There are two towers that have been erected at the corner of Driggs and Manhattan in Greenpoint. The project is called Manhattan Park. They’ve been stalled for over a year, with intermittent appearances by workers, and lots of comments from the throngs of brunch-goers at nearby Enid’s.

The two towers are located at Driggs between Manhattan and Leonard. One is substantially more advanced with the exterior nearly completed (referred to as 279 Driggs Avenue in the broker’s site). The other building does not have its exterior completed, and is lacking windows or a finished roof (271 Driggs Ave.)

(279 Driggs is in the front, 271 Driggs is to the left)

279 Driggs: This building has looked “complete” for months. I’ve even seen brokers showing the units to people. However, nothing has really changed. The fit-out on the inside is still bare in most of the units, balconies are wrapped in plastic, and the lobby bare. I’ve watched workers over the summer take wooden panels off the side and then replace them a few days later. This has gone on for over a year, at least.

DOB: Permits are issued for an 8 story, 14 unit building. The first permit for construction of the new buildings was issued in February of 2005. The architect Robert Scarano has been involved in several of the new building permits.

Violations: Nothing recent. There were a few complaints that do not appear to have been actually levied regarding a lack of safety netting, piping and elevator readiness back in 2005.

This afternoon (11/17/06) crews were busy at work drilling up the sidewalk, perhaps readying the ground level.

What happens to a building with a virtually finished exterior that sits for several months? Why would a building so close to completion and no apparent violations sit vacant for so long?

271 Driggs

The poor brother of 279 Driggs, this building has been further behind schedule, and spent much of the time that I’ve been watching it “exposed” with bare concrete, and no windows. Workers (in groups of two, rarely more) are occassionally seen rambling through the building, tinkering with windows, or applying sparse insulation or wrapping on the exterior.

(271 Driggs on left, 279 Driggs on right)

DOB: DOB shows permits for an 8 story building for 12 residential units. The latest permit is for paving around the base of the building. In May 2006 a New Building permit was issued, and currently is being audited and the job is on hold.

Violations: Currently the DOB website shows a stop work order for 271 Driggs. Despite that I saw workers this afternoon (11/17/06) (See picture below). In fact this building has seen several violations, and complaints. ECB violations on the site include problems with the construction shed (3), not conforming to work plan, unsafe fence (with rusty nails), and no guard rails surrounding an open cellar.

So these buildings again seem to be doing well, physically, but have run afoul of the DOB appparantly violating work plans and not taking correct site safety precautions.