Closing Bell: Moving Out at 475 Kent Avenue
When we stopped by 475 Kent Avenue, the site of this week’s matzoh-driven mass evacuation, these two fellows were in the process of moving their couch out the front door. According to one of them, the official word is that (former) residents will have daytime access through Sunday and then only on an ad hoc…
When we stopped by 475 Kent Avenue, the site of this week’s matzoh-driven mass evacuation, these two fellows were in the process of moving their couch out the front door. According to one of them, the official word is that (former) residents will have daytime access through Sunday and then only on an ad hoc basis. He also noted that the circus of Fire, Buildings and Red Cross personnel has calmed down and there are just a couple of officials now on-site. Meanwhile, political pressure builds for a tenant-friendly resolution and conspiracy theories (is a rival developer pulling strings so he can take over the entire block?) swirl. Hopefully there will be more information on Monday.
‘Commune of Creative Types’ in the Burg is Emptied Out [Brownstoner]
475 Kent Message Board [475kent.com] GMAP
I am facing the same kind of eviction and looking for a good lawyer. After the creepy sublessor drained us for a small fortune for our work/live space he decided to harass us out of place before even asking us to leave. He invited us to live there and is now taking us to court with a holdover in an attempt to recover damages rent (2 months so far). He trying to get harassment case and HPD dismissed and lying in Civil Court saying he is the landlord. I want to sue this pri_ck for the money he took. And why?, because not only would he not allow us to conduct business in the place, an appointment only gallery, he never put in the proper to maintain a studio there- no water or work sinks. It became a large expensive storage place in the end and we lived in fear of his potential repercussions if we deviated from his demands. He used the “i’ll get my lawyer involved” on a fuck_ing monthly basis. Anybody have any leads to a good Pro Bono lawyer who can help us deal with this matter would be greatly appreciated. Tony
FINALLY #21- A POST WITH ACTUAL FACTS AND INTELLIGENCE! All by the way Accurate from a Architectural standpoint- Bloomberg should be shamed by the hypocracy of such an order! and he calls himself a capitalist?
NEW YORK, ARGUEABLY SINCE THE 1970s and BEFORE, HAS BEEN ECONOMICALLY BUILT ON THE VERY PRACTICE THAT THESE OPPURTUNIST HAVE BRAVELY UNDERTAKEN!
look at SOHO, CHELSEA, MEATPACK, TRIBECA ETC. THOUSANDS OF ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED BUILDINGS TO THIS DAY! its why the CPC rezones areas in the first place- do you think they know where people want to live and where they want to work?- not a clue! the proof is in the pudding seeing how they rezoned the lot 475 sits on as purely residential- its one of the biggest oversights in NY zoning yet! that is a mixed use BLOCK if there ever was one!
Are we all keeping manufacturing jobs out of the neighborhood? NO- the market is just like it does in Manhattan and everywhere else! many of us would never want to (and decry the zoning which has not mandated ground floor commercial space in williamsburg), live in all residential areas and prefer this type of building to all others. WE WANT TO WORK ON AND IN OUR SPACES CONTINUOUSLY- ITS WHY WE MOVED IN!
much of the entire brooklyn waterfront manufacturing zone was just sitting there largely crumbling and dying for many many years- this building and many others were empty, enchanted post industrial spaces waiting to be occupied by DIY types with the ingenuity and spirit that make NY the place everyone wants to come to! IF DWEEBES AND OTHERS LOVE TO FOLLOW ARTISTS MUSICIANS AND HIPSTERS to the neighborhoods they inhabit and help create, then so be it- WHY should the innovative be to blame for seeking out of the ordinary and economically availble areas. I count myself as the artsiest hippest of the hip artists having lived here for 20 years- thank the cosmos or the pathos best described by Darwin for creating such engines of ingenuity! if you have a trust fund then put it to good use! if you dont then live your dream on your own dime! fuck all the idiots who would sit in their armchairs saying no one should live in a building like this—go find your idiotic K Fisher designed sophomoric luxury box AQUARIUMS built of styrofoam and I-Beams covered with plastic bricks and sheetrock- it may be LEGAL but it will always suck when compared to a monument like 475 KENT! now theres a 250LB per Sq ft load monolith! you folks could only dream of living in these spaces, with their massive features, and beautiful concrete form work, because the cowardice in you returns your feeble mind to the sofa and your cable program night after night for another lesson in correctness! FOLLW PARIS HILTON IF YOU WANT EXCITEMENT- JUST PLEASE DIRECT YOUR COMMENTS TO YOURSELVES AND LEAVE US HIPSTERS TO LIVE AND WORK WHERE WE CHOOSE!
Empty warehouses aren’t usually occupied by Hispanic, Italian or Hasidic tenants prior to being rented to artists. It housed used stereo components prior to artists, and very few of the former.
Probably over a million dollars was spent in 1998 by the buildings original group of tenant/developers to install code quality heating, gas, electricity, and plumbing.
Those who resided in the building were paying market prices and were in negotiations with the owner to obtain a residential c of o by continuing ten years of steady progress in improving the buildings infrastructure.
It was therefore a safer building last Sunday night than it has been at any time in its recent history.
All city departments had conducted inspections of the building regularly– every few months for years, and knew of each and every allegedly unsafe condition, each and every violation of the building code, including the mazoh making in the basement twice a year in celebration of the Jewish High Holidays. Nothing about the use of the building for work or dwelling was clandestine in any way, and was well known to the same agencies.
The walls and floors of the building are foot thick concrete– it is one of the so-called “daylight factory” building constructed in New York after the infamous Triangle Shirt Factory fire. Whatever its current technical code violations, it is essentially a fire proof building.
Emergency evacuation procedures are just that. They should be restricted to those occasions– like a building that is actually ablaze– when lives are in immediate danger. They should not be used as a way of evading normal legal processes like eviction proceedings.
As for whether a sprinkler system is legally required for this particular building, experts have disagreed for years and continue to do so. In 1998 the consensus opinion was that a sprinkler system was not required. The residents and the owners of the building both are eager to comply with the law– whatever it might be, and spend whatever is reasonably required to do, within a reasonable timeframe. Announcing with NO NOTICE of any kind that an as yet undetermined list of physical improvements (but potentially involving $100,000s or millions of dollars) as well as documentary changes of legal “classification” must be fully effected between 6pm and midnight or the building cleared– at least to me– isn’t how I thought the USA did things.
The block of Kent Avenue on which the building is located has been zoned as “residential” since 2005.
I can’t believe the amazing number of philistines on this site. Landlords and developers, no doubt.
9:08 yes, you can find a place to live and a place to work. you have to tough it out. and, maybe it’s not in NY. it you can’t make it here, you just can’t. no one is entitled to shit.
@4:05
What people don’t understand is that you cannot get comparable legal live/work space at any price in this city
If you did find it, (you and) your neighbors would be paying so much money that they too would feel entitled to absolute peace and quiet and freedom from commmercial activity of any sort.
2:02 obviously the landlord is at fault in the extreme, however, when you agree to help him by allowing him to operate outside of the law, how are you not also part of the problem?
the press release put out by the tenants is beyond belief. none of them seem to want to take responsibility for their part in this. they all seem so entitled – it’s a total turn off. that is probably where they lost sympathy.
you get cheap rents renting a commercial space rather than a residential one, but you run the risk of getting tossed out. They got their reward (paid less money), but now the party is over, and they will have to pay residential rates just like everyone else.
12:34 – Who said painter?
11:05, thank you for your clear voice. That was a magnificent set of posts.
It does matter that the city has tacitly approved of this kind of occupation of space for many years. It also matters that Guliani (of all people) actively opposed the kind of DOB action
(the mass eviction waiting in the wings)
that may or may not take place at 475 Kent.
These people did not hurt anyone (except perhaps themselves if they are living with toxic work processes), got no handout, and are living and working within a system that tolerates this kind of commercial use and has for so long that it is reasonable to feel secure.
It is terrible that their fate is a political matter and not one of policy. It is literally up to the mayor and the DOB to decide what to do now that the immediate threat to life is over.