A vacant five-story building at 71 Reade Street in Manhattan's TriBeCa South Historic District collapsed last week in a cloud of dust and debris.Adjacent buildings were evacuated.
Aharon Vaknin, who, with his partners, owns 71 Reade (apparently a/k/a 87 Chambers Street), faced numerous fines and violations for its cracked and crumbling facade.
Concerned neighbors had filed a string of complaints about the deteriorated state of the building.
Days before the collapse, the city's Department of Buildings ordered Vaknin and his partners, who were reportedly planning to develop the site as a boutique hotel, to install structural supports to hold the building up.
As the shoring-up began, the building collapsed, toppling a scaffold and blanketing the City Hall area in a cloud of dust reminiscent of 9/11.
Earlier this month, the DOB had issued a partial stop-work order -- apparently for 89 Chambers -- after determining that unprotected adjacent properties were “cracking and sagging” as a result of drilling.The photo at left shows the adjoining facades of 89 Chambers and 71 Reade after the collapse.
The building at 71 Reade, which dates from 1856, is connected to 89 Chambers Street, both buildings running through the entire block. Vaknin is listed as an owner of both structures.The two buildings were to have been combined into a 95-room hotel. Under the local Landmarks Law, their historic exterior walls were to have been left intact.
The hotel project had been hold because Vaknin couldn't get financing.
Thousands of dollars in fines had accumulated on 71 Reade, going back to 2007, when inspectors discovered a 15-foot long crack and a section of wall in danger of collapse.
The remains of 71 Reade and adjoining 89 Chambers will now be completely demolished -- and adjacent buildings may have to be demolished as well.
In recent days, neighbors of 71 Reade had complained that the walls were cracking, that there were loose bricks, that the building was shaking, and that it looked like the structure was ready to come down.
A work permit had been issued by the DOB for the adjoining 89 Chambers Street, and it appears that work at 89 Chambers contributed to the collapse of 71 Reade.
Vaknin, who had applied for a demolition permit for 71 Reade, has been spared the trouble by the building's collapse.
The city's Office of Emergency Management is overseeing debris removal and demolition operations, at taxpayer expense.
The article from the New York Times:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/vacant-building-collapses-in-lower-manhattan/?hp
More from Downtown Express:
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_315/safetyandpreservation.html
