Pile driving for new building on Avenue C prompts arrival of crack monitors next door

Last week I noted that the pile driving had started up again at the development site on Avenue C and Houston Street/Second Street where 10 floors of luxury rentals are slated.

There were multiple complaints filed with the city earlier last year about the construction possibly destabilizing the building next door — 249 E. Second St. There was a partial stop-work order issued in April 2017 when No. 249 reportedly shifted.

Anyway, since the last post, workers have erected a sidewalk bridge at No. 249 and enveloped the building in scaffolding ...





There's a new work permit for the address "for minor parapet repair work."

Meanwhile, a resident in the building shared this about the pile driving:

The developers of the building next door originally considered buying 249 E. 2nd Street in order to empty it of tenants but in the end decided it would take too long. They may regret that decision now. The current situation began almost a year ago when the city ruled on 3/21/2017, the construction in the adjacent lot damaged 249 E. 2nd Street. The city’s ECB Violation report ( DOB Violation Number 032117EX103JT04 and readily viewable online at the DOB site ) cited Noble Construction GR LLC of 1 Harmon Plaza, Secaucus, NY, for “FAILURE TO SAFEGUARD ALL PERSONS AND PROPERTY AFFECTED BY CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS NOTED: THAT DURING DRILLING OPERATIONS AT CONSTRUCTION SITE CONTRACTOR CREATED DAMAGES TO THE ADJOINING FOUNDATION OF BUILDING 249.”

A violation categorized as “Aggravated Offense Level 2.” There was a partial stop work order. The construction company could not do any more work accept to perform abatements of the damage it had done to 249 E. 2nd Street. Evidence of the damage was plentiful in the numerous prominent cracks in interior hallway walls and around door jambs, the sure sign of the building having shifted.

When last week’s pile driving began it was so severe tenants in four surrounding buildings spontaneously gathered in the street to discuss a collective action to thwart the construction activity and set off a flood of complaints to the DOB through the city’s 311 complaint phone line. Which is what originally brought the inspection that resulted in the previous violation citation.

249 E. 2nd Street now has surveyor’s gauges permanently affixed to key parts of the exterior, and crack monitors on the interior hallway damage, to facility monitoring of the ongoing situation. Almost every day surveyors are taking readings to catch any further building damage. Where this will end is anyone’s guess. But there is absolutely no mistaking the danger to the tenancies of the current occupants of 249 E. 2nd Street.

The reader also shared photos of the crack monitors...







When complete, the all-new 11 Avenue C will have 4,600 square feet of ground-level retail, 45 residential apartments and a landscaped roof terrace.

Top three photos from Saturday

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential building for former Mobil station lot will be 10 floors with 0 zero affordable units

A look inside the last East Village gas station

Pile driving resumes at the site of the East Village's last gas station, where a 10-floor building will rise