What You See in Sunset Park: Building Boom

A lovely walk down 43rd Street to get a papaya drink (I wanted avocado, but it was too early) at Ba Xuyen revealed some activity at 765 43rd Street after their stop work order was rescinded. It's going to be an eight unit building. Add that to the ten units at 713-715 43rd, and I think we're in for one heck of a big block party next year! Let's hear it for development that forces irresponsible population explosions! Go trash pick-up! Go school overcrowding! Go water! Go Park use!

These photos were taken on Wednesday morning (8/19/09).

A front-loader was very actively and quickly digging up dirt from the site. Considering the nine complaints lodged against this site in less than a year, perhaps the sooner the better for the next door neighbors. I mean, since the developers around here just do whatever they want with as few permits as they can get away with, it may as well be over as soon as possible.

One of the elderly residents of the next door building was taking a look at the work. This is the same building that has a front lawn memorial. The two residents I've seen and said hello to are both very friendly and sweet. I feel terrible that they have had to deal with the demolition and now digging and soon construction that they've endured for over a year already. If you happen to walk by and see anything that seems odd, please call 311. The adjacent building has already had to be repaired more than once due to the demo and foundation at 765 43rd Street. And we all know how well a "repair" holds up. How much shall we bet that 763 gets sold to another (or the same) developer to make another apartment building?

This block of 43rd will soon be all apartment buildings.

Hey! What's that I see through the backyard? Another apartment building going up on the next street over! Nice.

Where's Mike Mulligan When You Need Him?

I know it's not a steam shovel, but this sight reminded me of a story I loved when I was little. You know, the one about the outdated steam shovel digging for its life? This photo makes me think of what the steam shovel would have looked like without Mike Mulligan urging it on to victory.

This is actually a front loader (or something like that) at 765 43rd Street. Not too much progress at this location. Tearing down a building always works much better than building one in its place.

43rd Street's Construction

43rd Street has been under construction for a long time...over six months at this point. It has been slow going, and riddled with stops and starts, but things are really moving now!

On my last trip to Ba Xuyen on my once in a while lunch splurge, I walked down 43rd Street to check out the progress. Here's what I saw:

At 413-415, I ran into another interested on-looker. We commiserated about the anticipated changes coming to the block. He owns three building on the 8th to 9th block of 43rd, and he, like I, believes that the new building will look something like the one on 6th Avenue that replaced a brownstone (see left hand photo). The two homes that were town down were not particularly lovely, but they fit in with this side of the block. (This is one of the blocks with some houses that have not used siding to hide the funky faces on the facades.) We both dread seeing the new building...hopefully it won't be as bad as we anticipate.

What we did see were workers who got agitated when they noticed us standing outside (because I'm so scary with my baby carrier and all), and then they tried to close the gate. They failed to fully close it due to items strewn about. That's why, while I didn't get a photo of the very deep hole crisscrossed with steel, I did get a photo of their pile of dirt. That, and the level that was carefully stored on the dirt.

This construction site still has a months' old $2500 fine that has not yet been paid. It was for blocking and injuring the neighboring building's walkway. They have solved several other complaints, including noise...but my guess is there will be more to come.

Speaking of complaints, the other end of the block, at 765, was served by the Supreme Court of NYS. Apparently, it's about unsafe building and structure issues. Someone (not me, I swear!) tried to remove it and has read what's inside the notice, judging from the removed and carelessly re-applied tape. I haven't been able to find anything about the issues yet, but maybe it will show up soon. The site was active, and while only the outdoor staircase remains of this over-sized lot, most of the debris has been removed. No digging has happened yet...maybe before the first snows?

Work Back on at 713 43rd

After a Stop Work Order was issued on October 5th, 2009 for working without a permit, we had about six weeks of a lonely crane sitting on top of the building.  Now that the SWO has been rescinded, it seems that everyone is ready to get going.  Or, at least, the gates are open and materials are waiting.

 During the six week no-work period, the graffiti on the neighboring structure has been building up.  Farther down the street, another house is for sale and the demo/construction of the oversized lot at 765 has been in-process since their SWO was rescinded.  It will be an 8-unit dwelling.  A nice balance to this 10-unit dwelling.  Bookends, really.