Really Modern at the Modern on N. 7th Street

Williamsburg and Greenpoint are gifts that keep on giving in terms of routine construction violations. A neighborhood source called us over the weekend to note much commotion on N. 7th Street, so we did make sure to swing by in doing our appointed rounds. The trouble spots included 229 N. 7th where our source indicated that interior demolition work was going on without a permit (and from which two women in their 80s were evicted after a third tenant in whose name the lease was died) and 205 N. 7th Street, which is under a Stop Work Order for unsafe construction work and undermining the sidewalk, but where work was going on. (Working while Stop Work Orders are in place is an Olympic sport in Brooklyn.) This is the building known as The Modern, where two bedrooms are on the market for $1.1 million. We found a forelorn cat that appeared trapped inside the big work pit and stuck atop construction supplies and heavy equipment tracks in the soil that were clearly less than 24 hours old. The cat, by the way, was staring into a pit that is probably 20 to 30 feet deep and at walls at least ten feet high.