As Crain's New York first reported, Jeremy Lebewohl, owner of the Second Avenue Deli, filed the paperwork with the Department of Buildings (DOB) last Wednesday.
On Nov. 28, as we first reported, 642's residents — many of them in rent-stabilized units — were abruptly vacated after ongoing excavation on a Madison Reality Capital-owned 24-story development next door on the SW corner of Avenue C destabilized building.
Previously on EV Grieve: From the Department of Buildings at the time: "Structural stability of building compromised due to construction operations taking place at 644 E. 14th Street. Heavy cracks in the exterior and interior in addition to separation noted at door frames and floor from wall..."
Lebewohl's attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, told Crain's that "multiple engineers have now said the building is dangerous and needs to be torn down entirely."
According to a spokesperson, the DOB is reviewing the application but has not issued an emergency demolition order for the property, per Crain's.
With the help of Mobilization for Justice and Take Root Justice, several tenants filed an HP Action against Lebewohl and had their first court appearance on Feb. 9. They allege that Lebewohl, who has owned No. 642 since 1984, was aware of the building's structural issues but never took any action to make repairs.
Paul Messick, an attorney for the tenants, told Crain's that the ongoing litigation should prevent the demolition from taking place. Lebewohl's attorney disputed this claim, saying that the structure was damaged beyond repair.
Meanwhile, next door at the construction site, the work that was temporarily halted in late November and limited to shoring up 642's foundation has been picking up pace in recent months. The first sight of concrete reinforcing bars is (barely) visible above the plywood.
Madison Square Realty is the third owner of the long-empty lot (since 2009) in the past eight years. Madison Realty Capital paid Opal Holdings $31.3 million for the property in May 2020. Opal Holdings bought the parcel in June 2016 from Brooklyn's Rabsky Group for $23 million.
Plans for the latest development were first unveiled in June 2022.
The 24-story, 234-foot-tall building will be known as 14+C and include 197 residential units. There is no word on how many "affordable" units will be included in 14+C, one of the stipulations for being allowed to build a larger (by nine floors) building. (The Rendering below is via Fischer + Makooi Architects.)
There were already approved plans for a 15-floor mixed-use building, though no affordable units were attached to that version. As revealed in the spring of 2021, several developers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby the city for NYCHA air rights to make this a larger structure with more housing. 
As someone who lives on the block, I hope the DoB review includes how to protect the adjacent buildings and make sure THEY are not destabilized by the demolition. It seems from events to date that neither DoB nor the Lebewohls, who own 642, have taken pile-on structural effects seriously in this case. Otherwise 642 would not have had to be vacated.
ReplyDeleteWhat I cannot understand is why they (whoever "they" are) won't allow the tenants into the building in a safe manner, in order for them to collect their belongings. The tenants had to evacuate their apartments with basically just the clothes on their backs.
ReplyDeleteIf that building is so unstable, it would have collapsed by now. That, plus the fact that construction has resumed, and the building is still intact, defies the constant lying by the owner and his lawyers.
As always, the tenants get trashed, while the owners get rich.
The Lebewohls are once again putting money over their tenants. Of course their engineers are stating the building needs to be demolished, those engineers are on the Lebewohl payroll, they'd say whatever Jeremy Lebewohl wants them to say. I'd like to hear what a city engineer has to say about the integrity of the building. The owners of the building are trying to spread this '642 needs to be demolished' narrative so others will believe it. All they want is a payout because they realized tenants paying rent stabilized rates weren't giving them a profit anymore. If they truly cared for their tenants, they'd petition for them to have access to their belongings to at least move their things out. Some tenants haven't seen their belongings since November of 2023. Our community needs to rally behind our neighbors on this one. MRC and the Lebewohls can't win.
ReplyDeleteFor their negligence, Madison Square Realty should be required to give these tenants units of equal value/size (studio, 1br, 2br) in the new under construction building for life at the same stabilized rent rate as previous lease.
ReplyDeletePrior to demolition/sale/rebuild of lot 642, Lebowohl should be required to pay these tenants $150k/unit for expenses and hardship. The current building should be safely demolished and Lebewohl can recoup these payouts from sale or revenue generated from new building.