Neighborhood Threat

239 Banker St. aka 35 Meserole Ave. is a four-story brick building, formerly a manufacturing building, on the edge of the Williamsburg/Greenpoint industrial zone. (For those of you who don’t walk further than the Turkey’s Nest or the G train, we’re talking about the buildings from N. 12th to Calyer, Berry St. to the river.)
The building has been empty since I moved to Greenpoint; I noticed signs indicating some kind of studio on an upper floor, but never saw anyone go in or out, or any lights on in the building.

About a year and a half ago, I came home one day to see contractors on the street in front of the building. What were they doing? Replacing the windows.
Here’s a lesson, folks: no one replaces windows in an empty building unless they’re planning on filling up that building. I was still working real estate at the time, and my development detector went off.

A little research produced an interesting fact: this building was owned by the same landlords that own the Rocket Factory on the Southside, various properties out at Morgantown, the Sharf Lofts out at the Jefferson L, and our old favorite, the Greenpoint Hotel. My broker started making calls; if this was a building being converted a stone’s throw from where I lived, we wanted in, and fast. “Who told you?” was the first question, followed by, “Not going to be ready until the fall.” (On their clock, that likely meant winter, but that they would be telling every real estate agent in the zip code to rent it for October.)

But then we began the saga of the Stop Work Orders. If you look at the full-sized version of the image below, you will see no less than five stop work orders papered on the door.

And then, one day, development completely ceased. The rumor had it that they just assumed, like the many loft buildings converted over the years by ambitious landlords in our up-and-coming neighborhood, that they could get the zoning changed, or some kind of variance. But those days are long, long over (just ask the landlord at The Loom out at Morgantown).

However, it wasn’t until I began checking up on the facts for this piece, that I was able to get the full scope of the history of the landlord’s attempts to renovate this building. Courtesy of the Department of Buildings:

5/8/95: CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY 60564 PERMITS ARTIST STUDIO WORKSHOPS
8/31/05: POSSIBLE ILLEGAL CONVERSION OF INDUSTRIAL SPACE TO RESIDENTIAL USE
4/5/06: CALLER STATES THERE IS CONSTRUCTION WORK GOING ON 1ST,2ND AND 3RD FLOOR OF THIS MANUFACTURING BUILDING W/O ANY PERMITS
4/25/06: CALLER STS COMMERCIAL BUILDING IS BEING CONVERTED INTO A RESIDENTIAL DWELLING, CLR STS BATH TUBS AND MATERIAL
5/7/06: WORKING AGAINST STOP WORK ORDER ISSUED 4/28
5/8/06: CALLER STS THERE IS CONSTRUCTION GOING ON AT THIS BUILDING WITHOUT PERMITS POSTED
7/18/06: WORK W/O A PERMIT.FULL HEIGHT PARTITIONS WALLS TO CREATE ROOMS ON 2ND, 3RD & 4TH FLOORS.
8/7/06: FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH STOP WORK ORDER. 1ST FL. INSTALLED ELECTRICAL PANEL BOX, RUNNING NEW BOX CABLE

And now: “This property has 4 open ECB “Work Without A Permit” Violations and may be subject to DOB civil penalties upon application for a permit. After obtaining the permit, a certificate of correction must be filed on the ECB violations.”

Someone really, really, really didn’t want this building converted to residential.

Now, of course, it’s the closest neighbor to Studio B, and since the premises are not attended, it basically becomes the trash dumping ground for every lazy hipster who can’t be bothered to find a proper receptacle.

It is curious that the DOB would act so quickly against this particular building, while other far more egregious violations in the neighborhood, ones that are real threats to public health, safety and quiet enjoyment of one’s premises, are seemingly ignored.