Saturday's opening shots

Big rig city today on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Sixth Street ... as an assortment of cranes and things are employed at the ConEd substation here... where workers have been replacing a transformer in recent weeks...

So this had nothing to do with bus stop construction 😬 ... and Avenue A is closed to through traffic (both lanes) from Fourth Street to Seventh Street through tomorrow night, per signage.

Saturday's opening crane shot

Some reader reports of some early-morning crane action on Astor Place... on Eighth Street adjacent to 770 Broadway... perhaps something related to the new Wegmans... or, given the proximity to Facebook's office at No. 770, maybe they are installing the metaverse.

Big crane steels the spotlight on 1st Avenue

Large crane action to note today... this work is happening over at 75 First Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street, where an 8-floor, 22-unit condoplex is in the works next door to the Rite Aid.



Workers are putting steel beams in place...



After nearly 14 months of inactivity here, worked picked up again this spring. As such, the completion date on the plywood rendering has been adjusted to summer 2020.



This slowly-developing development broke ground in September 2016.

Developing: Partial boom collapse at 749 FDR Drive and 6th Street; no injuries reported

[Via @FDNY]

Emergency responders and news crews have descended on 749 FDR Drive this afternoon following a partial boom collapse outside an NYCHA building at Sixth Street. No injuries have been reported, per the FDNY after the freestanding crane boom collapsed against a 6-story building in the Jacob Riis House complex.

One of the buildings in the Riis Houses complex was evacuated as a precaution, an FDNY spokesperson told Patch. Traffic has also been stopped along the FDR (southbound lane) and Avenue D.

Due to a crane malfunction in Riis Houses, residents of 749 & 765 FDR Drive had to be evacuated. Cooling locations will be open at the following addresses: Boys and Girls Center at 888 E 6 St & Riis Community Center at 80 Ave D @nycha @nypdhousing

— NYPD Housing PSA 4 (@NYPDPSA4) July 30, 2019

It was a close call for one resident, as ABC-7 pointed out:

Cynthia Martin, a building resident, said the boom damaged a window in the apartment where she lives with her children.

"The glass shattered inside the apartment. It went in, and (my son) heard a loud boom, and they ran, and all the glass was in the apartment ... my son was sitting right next to it, and thank god for the curtains (were) right there, but all the glass came in ... I felt like I was having a heart attack. I couldn't even get here fast enough," she said.

EVG reader Garrett Rosso shared this video from earlier this afternoon showing the damaged crane ...



The city has been upgrading buildings in the Riis complex in recent months as part of the Sandy Recovery Program Restoration.

Updated 7:30 p.m.

The @FDNY account shared this view of the damage...

#FDNY CTU footage taken earlier this afternoon of the partial boom collapse at 749 FDR Drive in Manhattan pic.twitter.com/QZau5ZuryN

— FDNY (@FDNY) July 30, 2019

Updated 7:45 p.m.

The FDR is open again in both directions...

All FDR lanes are currently open following earlier @FDNY activity on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Expect residual delays in the area. pic.twitter.com/vDFf1h6rwU

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 30, 2019

Today's big crane action

Apparently some kind of cell tower removal/addition here on Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue. Or else there's another explanation...

Noise nightmare for neighbors comes to an end as 7-11 moves AC units to the roof on Avenue A

More than 15 months after 7-Eleven installed three noisy refrigeration units in an alleyway between 500 and 502 E. 11th St., workers arrived this morning to move them to the building's rooftop where they hopefully won't keep neighbors up all night.

Back in October, the Department of Environmental Protection ordered the Avenue A 7-Eleven to stop using the units, saying they violated the city's noise code. At the time, 7-Eleven reps said that they needed more time to sign a contract with a company to move the equipment. Landlord Westminster City Living claimed that 7-Eleven had refused to meet with them to discuss the ongoing issue.

As previously noted, the constant grinding, clicking noise caused several tenants in 502 East 11th St. to abandon their bedrooms.


[Photo via the No 7-Eleven Blog]

The crane was originally scheduled to arrive last Thursday, but the company had to amend their plans the day before the lift.

Upon hearing that news last week, one resident wrote, "We are at our emotional ends — exhausted beyond belief. We were fantasizing about the use of our living room for a Christmas tree (instead of a cluttered bedroom), and now we will have to wait… until when?"

The wait appears to be over… as these photos by Brian Katz, one of the residents who has endured the noise, show…





Previously on EV Grieve:
3 new AC units at incoming 7-Eleven prompts Partial Stop Work Order

A WHOOSHING AC unit update: 'We are roundly being ignored by 7-Eleven and Westminster NYC'

Report: 7-Eleven's AC units have forced residents from their bedrooms on Avenue A & East 11th St.

Local pols blast 7-Eleven for blocking order to remove noisy refrigeration unit at 170 Avenue A

1 year later, 7-Eleven asks for more time to move noisy refrigeration units from residential windows

'Crane operation' to close off part of St. Mark's Place this weekend

As the signs show, St. Mark's Place between Avenue A and First Avenue will be closed off for part of the weekend … "due to a crane operation at 119 St. Mark's Place."



I didn't even know that 119 St. Mark's place was a crane hospital! (Boooooooo.)

Updated 2:06 p.m.


[Photo by Bobby Williams]

Anyone happen to know what the workers are dropping off on the roof?

High times: New clock appears above East 13th Street and 4th Avenue

So last Saturday we spotted our old friends from Bay Crane doing something or another on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street… we took the above photo (remember: you always take photos of cranes).

And that was that. Until blogger Andrew Fine pointed out to us the arrival of an old-timey clock …





Per A Fine Blog:

It appears to be part of the re-branding of Pan Am Equities' 4000 unit apartment portfolio by Mirador Properties, which is now in charge of marketing and leasing. Mirador is overseeing the upscaling the properties with Restoration Hardware fixtures, high end appliances, and sleek lobbies. It is being branded as "True North", dedicated to combining "Old New York design" with "modern technology and amenities". Ok, whatever.

Goodbye giant cranes on Avenue A, goodbye

March Craneness has come to end on Avenue A … the big cranes that were here to put in the new ice machine at Sophie's install the 200,000-pound transformer at the Con Ed substation have packed up and left…



… leaving us with many memories and blog posts …



Photos today by Bobby Williams

And now, 14 photos of the big-ass cranes on Avenue A

Well, what a day! The Spring Social Season began with not one but two cranes anchored on Avenue A between East Sixth Street and East Fifth Street… there to lift (or whatevs) a new transformer into the Con Ed substation …

Here are 14 various views of all this…

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Via EVG regular peter radley…













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Via Tin Can On 5th…



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Via EVG regular Grant Shaffer…



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Via Senior EVG Crane Photographer Bobby Williams…








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Via EVG…

Just in case a precast concrete plank gets loose

[From July by Ron Z]

The big crane returns to East 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B today to work on The Mary Spink Apartments. And, once again, residents next door have to be out of their homes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ...



Also, watch out for the Hole. (You were warned!)

The Mary Spink Apartments will one day be home to eight stories — 46 units — of affordable housing for formerly homeless and mentally disabled East Village residents.

Spink, a respected community activist, CB3 member and executive director of Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association, died in January 2012 at age 64.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 11th Street lot prepped for the Mary Spink Apartments

Empty East 11th Street lot will yield to 8 stories of affordable housing (49 comments)

Big crane work at the incoming Mary Spink Apartments on East 11th Street

Your guide to construction hell on East 11th Street

Big crane work at the incoming Mary Spink Apartments on East 11th Street

EVG reader Ron Z. shares photos from this morning... A crane has arrived for the second installment of pre-cast concrete floor planks for the incoming Mary Spink Apartments on East 11th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B...



He notes that the planks are hoisted over 539-541 E. 11th St. and lowered onto the steel superstructure that workers have put into place.

"All residents on the 4th and 5th floors have to vacate their apartments until later this afternoon — in case a plank decides to land on top of the building," Ron says.







There were three trucks with planks waiting along Avenue A...





The Mary Spink Apartments will one day be home to eight stories — 46 units — of affordable housing for formerly homeless and mentally disabled East Villager residents.

Spink, a respected community activist, CB3 member and executive director of Lower East Side People’s Mutual Housing Association, died in January 2012 at age 64.

Previously on EV Grieve:
East 11th Street lot prepped for the Mary Spink Apartments

Empty East 11th Street lot will yield to 8 stories of affordable housing (49 comments)

When 20-ton cranes topple over along the East River

EVG reader Luke Dohner Av. C happened by this scene this morning along the East River at East 31st Street... the crane tipped over while repairing a bulkead near the Water Club restaurant...



The Daily News has a report on the 20-ton crane accident:

Workers said the crane, which was on a work barge, got stuck on a support beam when it suddenly crashed forward, sending its back wheels in the air. The scene slowed traffic along the FDR, while some passersby, including one pedaling a rented CitiBike, stopped to gawk and snap photos.

There were no reported injuries. And had this been the Post, the editors would have blamed the accident on the Citi Bike.

51 Astor Place puts away its giant crane

You know that big crane over at 51 Astor Place...

On Saturday morning, workers disassembled the thing...

Another ceremonial step in the construction of the 430,000-square-foot tower... after workers packed it up...

... we jogged alongside, waving and tossing flower petals as it headed out of the neighborhood ...

Previously on EV Grieve:
51 Astor Place demolition begins July 1; 17 months to build new black-glass tower

East Village — the new Midtown?