Demolition Porn: The Giant Fart Cloud Building

Williamsburg's Giant Fart Cloud Building has broken its last wind and is, in fact, being broken up as we speak. The Old Fart, which was a cabbage processing plant in its most recent iteration, is at 15 Roebling, and was so named by blogger Bad Advice because of its unique fragrance. Bad Advice is currently concerned that taking down Ye Olde Fart Cloud will damage her own building and demolition workers seem to have gotten some laughs from the notion that her building might escape damage. It is also across the street from the Roebling Oil Field and Building, which will make its excavation particularly exciting for us.

"Giant Fart Cloud Building" Definitely Passing Last Gas

It's official. The scaffolding is going up on Williamsburg's old cabbage processing plant, aka The Giant Fart Cloud Building, and the demolition crews are on their way. The real fun, however, will begin when excavation starts. The Fart Cloud site--formally known as 5 Roebling--is across Roebling Street from the Roebling Oil Field and potentially within reach of the underground oil plume on the block. There have been test wells near the building, but the results aren't known.

Giant Fart Cloud Construction Underway in Burg

Work has gotten underway at the site of the former Giant Fart Cloud Building at N. 11 Street and Roebling in Williamsburg whose demolition provided much drama. (The official address is 5 Roebling.) A GL reader writes: "I saw them digging with diggers today at the Giant Fart Cloud Building. It will be interesting to see the dirt!! I keep calling it 'The Cabbage.' For those unfamiliar with the property, it is located across the street from the former Roebling Oil Field and the current Roebling Oil Building, aka Warehouse 11. It was formerly the site of a cabbage processing site, hence its nickname. It is unknown whether the site is contaminated with oil like its neighbors across the street. Another neighbor, whose building "was shaking all day" wrote to ask: "Aren't they supposed to shore up the buildings next door before they start excavating?" Presumably, this is one of the many buildings now moving quickly to beat changes in the 421-a tax break program before July.

Will Demolition of Williamsburg's Fart Cloud Building Make a Stink?

Demolition crews have shown up at the 5 Roebling Street in Williamsburg, the building that used to be a cabbage processing plant and gained the name the "Giant Fart Cloud Building" from advice blogger and writer Bad Advice. The story of what is to come there will be of interest for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the structure is across the street from the Roebling Oil field and is listed as having hazardous material/environmental issues in need of monitoring. We opined recently that the odds are fifty-fifty that contractors will strike oil when they start digging on the site. (This is strictly a guess.)

It becomes more interesting because Bad Advice--which provided the photo above--noted that the demolition contractor on the project, MMG Design, has a very interesting history. We were reading an item about them that ran on Brownstoner last year, when it dawned on us that we'd reported the same story too after getting emails from unhappy neighbors. In that case, workers were said to be engaging in a variety of unsafe practices, even putting a child in danger in the eyes of parents who said they were unconcerned about a toddler playing in a yard nearby. Mr. Brownstoner used the word "pillaging" to describe their activity on Clifton Place.

In any case, here's an excerpt from the email about the beginning of the end of the Giant Fart Cloud Building which is close to cutting its final cheese:

They're digging up the sidewalk in front of the cabbage factory/5 Roebling. I have a feeling this is the beginning of an EXTREMELY loud fall...It's now just a giant hole that some guy is working inside. I don't think it's a fence. I think there's something wrong down there. There had been a steady stream of water oozing out from under the gate, so maybe there's a main break or something. Who knows.

We have a feeling the work at 5 Roebling is going to provide the material many posts, for many, many reasons.

Assemblyman Asks Dept. of Buildings to Keep Eye on Fart Cloud Building Demolition

Assemblyman Joe Lentol has jumped into the Giant Fart Cloud Building fray. You might recall that the Department of Buildings halted the demolition of 5 Roebling (aka the Giant Fart Cloud Building) last week for being unsafe. The demolition had threatened to destabilize at least one neighboring building. Today, New York Shitty posts a copy of a letter that Assem. Lentol, whose district includes both Williamsburg and Greenpoint, sent to the Department of Buildings. In it, he cites letters from constituents complaining about "dangerous work practices" at the site and says "the Building Department must order frequent inspections" of work at 5 Roebling. A Partial Stop Work Order is still in effect for the site. It allows safety work and debris removal. Proper oversight of the project will be key to ensuring that no one becomes homeless during the completion of demolition and, even more to the point, during the construction of a new building. Sadly, there are dozens of other sites in Brooklyn that require "frequent inspections."

Farted Up No Longer: End Near for Cabbage Building

Generally, when the "rat poison" signs go up on a building in Williamsburg, you don't even need to check city records to verify that demolition is coming. So it is with 5 Roebling Street, the building that was dubbed the Giant Fart Cloud Building by dating advice/real estate development blogger Bad Advice. The building was a cabbage plant, hence that nasty Dutch Oven scent that wafted through the hood and the Big Ass Brooklyn Rats which are presumably being poisoned left and right (or just getting high on the stuff) as we speak. Demolition permits are out on the Fart Cloud Building, which is supposed to become a six-story building with ten condos. There are two interesting questions related to all this:

1). Will neighboring buildings, which are wood frame and old, survive the excavation and pile driving?

2). Will the developer strike oil?

As for Number One, who knows. As for Number Two, we will simply note that 5 Roebling is diagonally across the street from the Roebling Oil Field, and there is every indication that there is a significant amount of "free product," as they call spilled oil without any sense of the deep and rich irony it deserves, gurgling underground in the general area of N. 11th Street and Roebling. You can guess what we would wager if we were to bet.

Fart Cloud Fest Update: DOB Say Site Cool, Cops Bust Dumpers

We didn't expect to have this particular item about the former Giant Fart Cloud Building, aka 5 Roebling, this morning. We figured there would be another report of debris removal that might exceed the accepted parameters of debris removal. Instead, we got the following email at 10:19 PM:

One of my neighbors saw people dumping debris at the site and when I just got home, the cops were here and three guys were cuffed out front of the site!...I don't know if someone called 911 or what.

We never realized there could be such a speedy police response to people dumping crap in the Burg (and will also point out that it appears outsiders were dumping at the site). On other Fart Cloud Building fronts, the Department of Buildings checked on after hours construction and work contrary to the Stop Work Order yesterday (the complaint had been made the day before) and found "no construction activity." On the bright side, 311 may accept new complaints if there are any to be made. Any updates on FartGate as they become available.

Department of Buildings Stops Giant Fart Cloud Bldg Demolition

The Department of Buildings stepped in yesterday to halt the demolition of 5 Roebling Street, also known as the Giant Fart Cloud Building because of its fragrant recent past as a cabbage processing plant. Neighbors had complained that the demolition was so violent that they were in fear that it would damage their building and leave them homeless. The Stop Work Order is currently attached to the plywood gate, but hadn't been posted on the DOB website as of 9AM. It looks like, in this case, the department acted in a timely way to address a problem that could have proven quite serious to neighbors. It's still going to be long haul, as the demolition is completed (hopefully in a way that doesn't damage the neighboring building) and a new building site excavated and construction gets underway.

UPDATE: The Stop Work Order, which is now posted online, is for "demolition in progress in an unsafe manner" and for an illegal mechanical demolition.

Bklink: Giant Fart Cloud Neighbors Have Gas

Neighbors of the notorious Giant Fart Cloud Building, which is being demolished at 5 Roebling Street in the Burg, now have gas. Seriously. KeySpan is digging. The good news is that the phones and internet are back, so they can phone, email and text before the block goes boom.--Bad Advice

Farting Up a Storm: Stop Work Order at Burg's 5 Roebling Violated This Morning?

We received a call from one of our many Williamsburg sources this morning at an hour on a Saturday morning when no one should be getting calls about this kind of thing: The work crew at 5 Roebling (aka The Giant Fart Cloud Building) was at the site around 8:30AM, working. The regular reader might recall that the building was hit with a Stop Work Order for unsafe demolition work on Thursday after neighbors complained that mechanical demolition was threatening to severely damage their homes. The Department of Buildings stepped in to halt the work. The order, as far as we can tell, has not been lifted. According to our special correspondent, a work crew of four men was removing debris from the site and tossing it onto a truck. "And it's really loud," he added. "So much for that Stop Work Order." One hopes the much-publicized Stop Work Order Patrol wanders over and catches the Giant Fart Cloud Building as it cuts cheese in violation of the city order. A photo of the workers in action is to the right. The photographer reports that "the guys immediately started yelling...they said they had nothing to do with the demo and that they were only from the scaffolding company."

Digging the Burg's Giant Fart Cloud Building Site

We know the work at 5 Roebling in Williamsburg, aka the site of the Giant Fart Cloud Building will be the source of many words and photos in coming weeks. We say this because (a). There is the chance of damage to adjacent buildings if it is not monitored closely and (b). There is the possibility the excavation will lead to the discovery of oil, as the site is withing the Roebling Oil Field footprint. (If they don't strike oil, it will indicate the limits of the underground oil in the area.) In any case, here's an email about the work:

They're using two different machines. One scoopy excavator/backhoe thing and another one that I've never seen before. It looks like a deathray crossed with a dental drill, but sounds like a jackhammer. I'm working at home today, which is really a treat, as my building keeps lurching and and it's there's the constant rat-a-tat-tat of the jackhammer type item and loud, building-shaking booms. I know everyone who lives next door to a construction site goes through this, but I feel like Shlomo Karpen [the developer] should be giving every tenant in this building combat pay. I have no doubt there's going to be structural damage. I really thought they were supposed to shore up the buildings next door when they start excavating, but so far, not a thing.

On the bright side, it shouldn't be long before we know if there's oil down there.

Sugar Flies Coop, But Turns Up Safe

Last week, it was Foghorn, the lovebird. This week, it was Sugar the cockatoo. After posting about her deep fears of being rendered homeless as the Giant Fart Cloud Building is brought down, blogger Bad Advice writes of the loss of Sugar:

If you've ever gotten your haircut at the Brooklyn General Barber Emporium, you might recognize Sugar. My neighbor Meredith is his owner and tonite the crazy bird flew the coop!...He was last seen flying out the window at North 11th & Roebling, headed in the direction of the Roebling Oil Field. We're hoping he took refuge there for the night. But if you're wandering around Williamsburg and see a funny little cockatoo, please get in touch.

All's well that ends well, however. Early this morning we got an email that Sugar was recovered unharmed. Otherwise, if you believe in the power of prayer, say a couple for Bad Advice in terms of the impending Giant Fart Cloud Building's demise

Burg's Giant Fart Cloud Demolition is a Scary Mess

For a symbol of everything that is wrong with the system regulating demolition, construction and development in New York City and Brooklyn, look no further than 5 Roebling Street, aka the Giant Fart Cloud Building. Demolition work was stopped temporarily last month after a neighboring building was threatened. The demolition is back in full swing now, and from the emails that blogger Bad Advice has been sending us and her own blog posts, the situation is utterly intolerable. Here's a bit from the email we got:

My ground-floor neighbors almost had their wall cave in on them and their house filled with what they thought was smoke, but turned out to be thick black dust. When you push against their wall, it gives and they can hear the guys talking on the other side like they're in their apartment with them.

It got ugly. We called 911 and a bunch of fire and policemen showed up, but they can't really do anything. We called 311, which at this point brings me less satisfaction than talking to my cat. One of my neighbors may or may not have grabbed the keys out of the MMG truck, so they couldn't move the backhoe out of the yard before the cops got there. It is so ugly and stressful living here that I'm shaking as I type this. Thankfully, my terminally ill neighbor's daughter is coming to take her to Florida on Friday so she can die of natural causes and not from having her ceiling cave in on her.

There is a great deal more detail about this scary and demoralizing situation over at Bad Advice. We are now going to be blunt about this disgusting state of affairs.

GL Analysis:
It is odd that a small, insignificant Williamsburg building can come to symbolize what is tragically wrong with the scandalously ineffective way that we "regulate" the development process in New York City. Every single day in Brooklyn, people's lives are made miserable and they have nowhere to turn. Is it a lack of resources? Yes. It is a lack of caring? Yes. It corruption involved? We suspect that it is. Does the system need a major overhaul and reform from top to bottom? Without question.

The current situation is the perfect storm of out-of-control development, ineffective government and powerless citizens. It is what happens when honest, hardworking people find themselves in the middle of a development boom where, pretty much, anything goes.

Even if you don't care about people, there has to be a self-centered part of everyone that can picture what it's like to be in your home and suddenly be afraid you're going to become homeless because of work going on next door. There has to a part of everyone that can understand the insane, helpless rage that comes from watching someone bash in your wall and having no one to turn to because you are dealing with an unresponsive and/or utterly ineffective system. There has to be a part of even the most callous "deal with it" person that becomes a little frustrated knowing that a phone call will be ignored or that inspectors will show up days after the problem was reported and, then, will duly note, "we didn't see a problem."

5 Roebling Street is a poster child for every single thing that is wrong with the system. The Department of Buildings actually did the right thing and issued a Stop Work Order. It would appear to have been disregarded at certain points, however, and it should never have been lifted until legitimate, enforceable ground rules were set. The decision should have been made at the highest level of the department, if anything, because the site has become a minor celebrity in its own way thanks to online coverage. It shows how the entire system doesn't work even when it does work, so the best solution is making sure nothing happens at the site until people aren't rendered homeless and their lives are ruined.

It seems to us that the 5 Roebling Stop Work Order should be reinstated in full immediately and the Department should refuse to issue any future permits for anything at this development site until there is a sense that the community will be respected. Had a lightening rod architect such as Robert Scarano been associated with the project it would be dead in the water already. (Or, maybe not, if one checks the Carroll Gardens Hell Building post above.)

Acting in a meaningful way on 5 Roebling would send a message that there are limits to the torment to which neighbors can be subject and to disregard for city regulations and neighborhood quality of life.

Doors to Fart Cloud Site Swing Open

We don't know if there were any more late night blow torches lighting up the night sky in Williamsburg last night at the site of the mostly demolished Giant Fart Cloud Building (aka our old friend, 5 Roebling). We do know that the site was wide open around 12:30ish and that most of the workers appeared to be on lunch break. A partial Stop Work Order allowing only debris removal from the site remains in place and it looks like Department of Buildings inspectors have been busy checking up on Ye Olde Fart.

GL Construction Site Du Jour: 5 Roebling Street

We weren't able to get to this yesterday, because we already had a Construction Site du Jour post with the Red Hook Ikea's early invite to the general public to walk through their fence and check things out, not to mention the recurring issues at the Whole Foods site in Gowanus. However, this post about the men atop the pile of rubble on Sunday afternoon by blogger Bad Advice at 5 Roebling, aka the Giant Fart Cloud Building, could explain why a panel on the fence out front appears to have been ripped open. And, yes, there is a new complaint about after-hours construction work phoned in to 311 on December bout Ye Olde Fart Cloud, but no indication that it has been checked out.

Burg's Fart Cloud Building Mess To "Get a Lot Worse"

We swung by the atrocious demolition site at 5 Roebling Street in Williamsburg formerly known as the Giant Fart Cloud Building and found a busy situation. Workers were patching a wall of a neighboring building that had been damaged during demolition. We watched a huge trailer pull in and hoist a dumpster until it stood nearly two stories in the air and then drop it with such force that the ground shook across the street. All in a day's work, allowed to continue with a wink and a nod, we suppose. We got the following email from blogger Bad Advice, who has chronicled much of the awfulness of living next to a Wild West demolition site. It concerns a visit from a DOB inspector. The good news is that the DOB cared enough about the situation to send someone. The bad news is that he basically told her that she and her neighbors are screwed. Here it is:

So yesterday I'm home and my buzzer rings. I go downstairs to answer the door and it's a Department of Buildings inspector! I was so excited! Christmas came late, but that's okay. Or not. He tells me he has a report of the building shaking, cracks in the wall and apartments filled with dust. I try to get him into my two first-floor neighbors' apartments, but neither are home, so I tell him what happened. Anyway, I'm so excited to see someone from the DOB that I told him all we've been going through, how horrible it's been and how MMG [the demolition contractor] is doing all this illegal stuff and nobody seems to care.

He says there's no proof of that. I tell him that I have video of them using a backhoe for demolition. He starts to back away, obviously not wanting to deal. I remind him that video is proof and he's welcome to it. He tells me that I should look on the nyc.gov website and maybe there's somewhere there that'll tell me where to send it because it's no good to him. He needs proof.

I ask him if there's anything we can do when they're working at night or on weekends or jeopardizing our building's structure. He seriously advises me to call 311. WTF? So I just start laughing and ask him how effective that is when they send an inspector four days after the fact and refuse to even look at any proof of wrongdoing. The guy is acting like I'm a mental case! I need to point out that I was completely pleasant and was more amused at his obvious discomfort at actually having to do his job than anything approaching anger.

So I look on the DOB website today and all the complaints are marked as resolved. His parting comment to me was, "It's going to get a LOT worse."

Therein is the crux of the conundrum. DOB requires "proof" of illegal work or violations. Yet, they lack the resources to develop such "proof." Hence, developers and contractors, in effect, are granted carte blanche to violate laws and regulations at will, because lacking an inspector on site during work hours and unable to respond to anything but complaints involving threats to safety and building stability in a timely way, there is never "proof." Catch 22, anyone?

If it's going to get "a lot worse," we'll be doing a lot of writing about what we will probably dub the "Williamsburg Building from Hell" in 2008, unless the DOB takes action and refuses to issue permits for a site that its own inspector indicates will "get a lot worse" in terms of doing serious violence to the quality of life of neighbors.

City Not Taking "Duplicate" Complaints About Fart Cloud Bldg.?

The site of the former Giant Fart Cloud Building (aka 5 Roebling Street, which has partially been reduced to a flatulent pile of rubble) in Williamsburg become a very active place this week (complete with blowtorches cutting up steel in the night). So much so that blogger Bad Advice, whose building was threatened with damage before the Department of Buildings put a halt to the festivities, says that recent calls to 311 have been rejected. She writes in an email:

Now when I call 311 to report work going on for the third day in a row they won't even take the complaint because they don't like to duplicate complaints. They're doing a whole lot more than removing debris.

There are five active complaints with the Department of Buildings, including several from this week. Frankly, while we understand a distaste for creating duplicate complaints, we're rather flabbergasted that 311 operators would refuse to take complaints that refer to more activity on a different day and complaints that allege that more than debris removal is happening at one of Williamsburg's more interesting demolition sites. How else can residents register evidence of possible problems--especially repeated ones? Further updates as they become available, as we don't mind duplicating reports of late night work and activity that is alleged to perhaps be making a mockery of a Stop Work Order. The pattern of activity is even more interesting than a single incident.

Fart Cloud Building Cutting Major Cheese Again

The crew taking down 5 Roebling Street in Williamsburg, aka the Giant Fart Cloud Building, is back on the job and neighbors are again suffering through severed cable TV lines and a general fear of being made homeless. Blogger Bad Advice is those telling us what it's like to live in an old building next to one being torn down, and it isn't pretty. (Note to developers: When one of the neighbors has a blog that is picked up and linked expect news of the tear down and collateral damage to travel rather widely.) Curiously, the Department of Buildings website continues to show a Partial Stop Work Order on the project that was imposed last month. (We will assume the site hasn't been updated?) Here's what Bad Advice wrote late yesterday to go along with the photo above:

Not content to tear down the building they're supposed to be demolishing, MMG [the demolition contractor] has taken the first official steps towards wrecking my home! WTF?!?

Compared to fear of being made homeless, this next bit from an earlier post is just background color, yet it's still interesting:

No sooner had MMG wandered back to the work site next door (well, officially—unofficially, they've been there off and on for weeks) to erect a "safety fence," than my internet went out. I looked out my window and down to the backyard and saw that the fence butted right up against my cable wires. Though I didn't actually see them do it, it seems pretty obvious that my wiring got in the path of MMG's destruction. Once again, my neighbor has no phone, and I have no internet.

The full post is a great read too.

Fart Fest #2: Fartus Interuptus Just in TIme?

Williamsburg's Giant Fart Cloud Building is gone, collapsed into a heap of bricks and splintered wood on Roebling Street, across from the Roebling Oil Building (aka Warehouse 11). The Department of Buildings halted the demolition because it was going forward in an unsafe way. Blogger Bad Advice had emailed us last Thursday, saying that residents in her building were terrified by the demolition via heavy equipment and fearful their building would damaged and that they would be rendered homeless. The photo above shows that the fear may not have been unfounded and also shows some of the phone lines that were ripped down during the demolition. There's additional detail in the photo below and a wide view of the scene as well.

Dangerous Fart: Williamsburg Demolition Endangers Neighbors

Remember the Giant Fart Cloud Building, aka Five Roebling? It's the one that the blogger Bad Advice lives next to. She has been afraid demolition work would destroy her home and, at least, seriously effect her life. Well, it's happening and it's scary. Her story gets the at the heart of the powerlessness that everyone that lives near a building project must feel when work starts: If work starts, their homes might be endangered and they will have nowhere to turn.

Here's is Bad Advice's first email to us this morning, at 12:37 AM. It came with the subject line "Help!":

I'm really freaked out about what's going on next door. They've knocked out my phone (the lines are laying on the ground across N. 11th!), the cable TV/internet and the building is rocking like, uh, a building is NOT supposed to when they're working. Thank christ Con Ed and the water supply is underground. I've spoken to Marie Grasso [who owns the demolition company] several times. As you might imagine, she's not been terribly helpful,
though she did demand that the backhoe operator repair my cable tv with a roll of electrical tape. (Shockingly, that didn't work.) I am losing my mind over here...

Here is this morning's email, which arrived at 7:10AM and details frustration with both the 311 system and with the Department of Buildings (Note to DOB: If you are reading this, perhaps, an inspector might visit 5 Roebling Street today.):

I've been calling 311. Last night I called them about the wires laying across the street. They asked me if they were live wires--I told them I wasn't about to check that out! So they connected me to 911 and the fire department came and made sure nobody was going to get electrocuted. Once they determined they were only phone lines, they split.

Yesterday I called Marie Grasso and told her I didn't think her backhoe was supposed to be ripping walls down. She insisted that it hadn't been the backhoe, but only her guys--by hand--were doing the demo. I insisted it had been mechanical and she insisted back that I
was mistaken.

I told her that I had photos AND video. That shut her ass up.

311 has been so completely useless. They keep wanting us to say that we think our building should be condemned! Um, no! We want them to stop the parade of incompetence before it gets that way! It seems like there's nothing you can do until your ceiling comes crashing down on your head.

I worked from home yesterday and while it was scary to have the building weaving with me in it, today I have to go into my office and I'm even more worried to leave and wonder what I'm going to come back home to. I can't figure out if it's incompetence or corruption that makes the DOB such a completely inefficient organization.

There is a post over at Bad Advice from which we have taken the photo of the heavy equipment doing the demolition. One can only hope the demolition is halted by DOB before damage happens to the building next door that causes people to become homeless. If not, it is emblematic of everything that is wrong with the system and how it fails to protect everyday citizens from being harmed. Sometimes from the threat of literal harm and homelessness that could be prevented. The DOB's failure to respond to this situation before the building is destroyed would be akin to the Fire Department's failure to answer an alarm.

We will have updates later.

UPDATE: We just got an email from Bad Advice saying that the site received a visit from the Department of Buildings and that a Stop Work Order was issued. The reasons behind the order are unclear right now, but it's encouraging that DOB acted before structural damage was done to adjacent property.