Here's how 84 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street is looking these days. (Photo from Saturday!) Someone recently broke out the fire extinguisher for the latest tag here.
What follows is a recap of the permitting required to renovate the building.
This past July, the newish owners of the currently-empty building, reportedly Highpoint Property Group, a real-estate development company, appeared before CB3's Landmarks Committee for a proposal on a Certificate of Appropriateness for the address. (Landlords of buildings located within a designated New York City historic district must receive a permit from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for major work.)
According to the alteration permits filed with the city last June, the additions would take the building from its current 5,829 square feet to 8,439 total square feet with a rear-yard addition. The modified No. 84 would feature new retail space as well as four residences.
As for that July 2018 meeting, CB3 conditionally approved the front façade plan only if the trapezoidal storefront window can be retained. CB3 opposed the rear-yard addition. According to the minutes from that meeting, neighbors submitted a petition against the proposal containing 160 signatures.
In late October, the LPC voted to approve the proposal to modify and replace the storefront and construct additions out back and on the roof. Per the LPC: "[I]n voting to approve this proposal, the Commission stipulated that the applicant work with the Commission's staff to reduce the visibility of the rooftop work from public thoroughfares. No work may begin until a Certificate of Appropriateness has been issued. Upon receipt, review and approval of two signed and sealed sets of the final Department of Buildings filing drawings for the approved work, a Certificate of Appropriateness will be issued."
The LPC is currently reviewing the Certificate of Appropriateness (as of Dec. 5, 2018). The work permits are still pending with the DOB.
This property has changed hands twice in recent years. Highpoint bought the building for $7.8 million in the spring of 2018. According to public records, the building sold in May 2016 for $5.1 million. Betty Sopolsky via an LLC was the seller, with the buyer listed as West 26th Street LLC.
As we've noted several times through the years, the address has a dark past, which includes the still-unsolved murder of Helen Sopolsky, proprietor of the family's tailor shop who was found bludgeoned to death in 1974, per an article at the time.
The storefront has remained empty since her death.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Plywood and a petition at 84 2nd Ave.
Workers clearing out the mysterious 84 2nd Ave. storefront
Renovations proposed for mysterious 84 2nd Ave.
Mysterious 84 2nd Ave. sells again, this time for $7.8 million
There are new plans to expand the mysterious 84 2nd Ave.
Once again, I am dying to know why the city and NYPD do nothing about graffiti. It is getting worse and worse by the day it seems. I feel like I am witnessing the broken windows theory every day I walk down the street.
ReplyDelete@Neighbor, because they simply don't give a shit. Take my corner, Clinton and Delancey, where taggers have completely covered the tourism map with layer upon layer of graffiti. But the cops will be out there every morning at 7:30 pulling over moms in vans taking their kids to school for making a right onto Clinton after the light changes. The older ones are just biding time until they can retire and the young ones are terrified of getting shot if they pursue actual criminals.
ReplyDeletebroken windows theory is a load of crock and we'd be a lot better off if the police enforced more traffic violations
ReplyDeleteWhat's worse is when landlords leave buildings like this one, to rot, and then get tagged. Look at Charas on 10th & B as an example.
ReplyDelete