Williamsburg

Sparrow real estate in urban infrastructure.

When will the dust and mud be gone?

It's been almost a month since Hurricane Sandy and Manhattan Beach is still covered in dusty mud. People continue to clear debris and destroyed items from their houses. I saw something that reminded me of an antique looking wurlitzer-like piano brought out from a basement. It's eery to see the white-glazed highrise on West End and Oriental is still missing its balcony railings.

Ocean Avenue

Sunken steps at Beaumont & Esplanade

Oriental Boulevard

Beaumont Street

St. Margaret Mary Parish grounds

St. Margaret Mary Parish grounds

MTA sends train components to Rockaways

I don't know why I have such a soft spot for the mechanics of the MTA subway system all the time.  But the Gothamist's feature on the MTA's photos of train cabs being sent to the Rockaways pulls some more heartstrings:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtaphotos/8163027892/in/set-72157631949862962/

In other MTA news, the D and F train service has been restored to Stillwell Avenue as of this morning.

It was strange to return to Manhattan for work today, having not been in the city since October 26.  I couldn't help but think about the elderly people I hear are trapped at the upper floors of many Coney Island apartment buildings with few resources and visitors.  My attempts to contact volunteer agencies that bring food and supplies up to the 7th through 20th floor were not fruitful.  Hikes up the unlit stairwells, I was told, are only done during daylight hours. So I will not be able to put my pipe scaffolding climbing stamina to good use yet.

Red Stickers

DOB inspectors are on Corbin Place checking for structural stability issues. Photographed building numbers 286 and noted 295.

As per DNAinfo.com:

The Department of Buildings has to send an inspector to the Zone A buildings one by one to determine whether they're safe and structurally sound, Bloomberg said at a press conference.
Larger buildings will be allowed to self-certify whether their buildings are safe to enter, Bloomberg said.

Red stickers mean the buildings are not safe to enter, yellow means caution, and green stickers mean you can enter, Bloomberg said.

More information can be found here from the Buildings' Department website:
A NYC Department of Buildings green sticker issued after inspection authorizes re-occupancy of such building. In lieu of a Department inspection, an owner may obtain a green sticker upon satisfaction of both of the following:

1. Submission to the NYC Department of Buildings of a certified report by a NYS licensed professional engineer or registered architect certifying the following:
• There is no standing water in the building;
• The building is structurally sound;
• All required life safety systems, including but not limited to, fire alarms, sprinklers, standpipes,
carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, are intact and in good working order;
• If there is an elevator, at least one working elevator serves all floors; and
• The building is otherwise safe to occupy.
2. The building has electrical power or a working emergency generator to power all required life safety systems.

ALL SUBMISSIONS
All submissions including certified reports in accordance with the above shall be submitted to the following email address reoccupyzonea@buildings.nyc.gov or to one of the Department
Borough Offices. For any variation from the above requirements, the NYS licensed professional engineer or registered architect must first submit a request for variation determination to reoccupydeterminations@buildings.nyc.gov.

Hurricane damage in Brooklyn

My family and I were lucky. We returned to Manhattan Beach Tuesday afternoon to assess the situation and found we only had 4 to 5 inches of salt water and sand sewer back-up in the basement and no power, hot water or landline telephone service.

What we saw on our drive from Sunset Park to Manhattan Beach is still hard to believe -- broken railings along the parkway, broken balcony railings along tall buildings, sand and soil everywhere, flooded streets, shifted cars, uprooted trees and sidewalk flags. Magically, United Methodist Church looks the same from the exterior. I don't know about the inside yet.  I've been busy cleaning out the basement in the daylight hours that I haven't had a chance to check on St. Margaret Mary Church or the remaining dead end blocks.  Unbelievably, the rocks along the esplanade at Corbin Place were thrown out into the street by the force of the storm. I'm sure the same might be found from West End Avenue to Exter Street. Damage is evident on the ocean side of 295 and 286 Corbin Place.  Other neighbors reported the same sewer back up problems, with some continuing even after the storm.

Belt Parkway - October 31, 2012

Shifted/broken railings along the Belt Parkway esplanade

Sheepshead Bay - October 30, 2012

West End Avenue and Oriental Boulevard



Broken storefront glass at the corner store and Ginger Rose
at Sheepshead Bay Road and Emmons Avenue.

 

Broken lobby window at West End Avenue & Cass Place.

Manhattan Beach - October 31, 2012

Broken railings at the 4th and 10th floors on Oriental Boulevard
and West End Avenue.

 

Missing railings at the 6th floor on Oriental Boulevard and West End Avenue.

Corbin Place

 

October 31, 2012 view of 286 Corbin Place.

Google Street View snapshot of 286 Corbin Place before storm.

Google Street View snapshot of 286, 295 and dead end of Corbin Place before storm.

Chelsea brick

Back-up brick in a 1860s brownstone at West 21st Street, between 9th and 10th Avenue. I spotted a few labeled "KING" but can't tell if it was masonry added years later.

Upper West Side brick

50 West 77th Street, constructed in 1903 as the Manhattan Square Hotel. Brick manufactured by "W&F" or Uriah Washburn & Denton Fowler

Gramercy brick

East 19th Street and Second Avenue, constructed in 1928.  Parapet brickwork manufactured by Staples -- from Kingston, NY.

Wednesday

More change on Brighton Beach Avenue

I'm back in Manhattan Beach for a short stay and noticed a few changes:
1) there appears to be no construction developments at Odessa or the adjacent buildings
2) The western neighbor to Ouri's Fruit Market which was being used as a temporary liquidation store is now a hair salon. That completes the apparent unknown goal of having one hair salon per block between Brighton 15th and Coney Island Avenue. It seems a tad bit ridiculous.
3) Two stores west of the Oceana where a 24 hr corner deli has stood for years is now a fruit store. The airiness of the layout is interesting and is better given the odd triangular shape of the building.
4) Citibank is now open at Berta's.

Another hair salon on Brighton Beach Avenue, next to Ouri's Fruit Store

New fruit store at former corner deli.

Brighton in bloom

Sunset Park

Pictures of the day

8:00 AM: The new MTA switch station at Avenue C and McDonald Avenue.We'll know what the insides look like once they're concealed.

8:30 AM: Daffodils are blooming at Kings Bay Housing in Sheepshead Bay.

7:30 PM: Menu holder at Tipplers near Chelsea Market, celebrating a coworker's engagement.

8:30 PM: Site-specific ad in Chelsea. The advertisers thought outside of the box of one billboard.

Bird Friendly Glass Design

My office just finished a balcony repair project at a modern glass building along the West Side of Manhattan.

The contractor had to install sidewalk bridging around the entire building to protect pedestrians from the work occuring above. What I noticed while walking on the bridge was a prevalence of beautiful and small dead birds lying all around -- victims to the confusion created with certain types of reflective glass. Among them were small downy wood peckers.

Downy wood pecker

Rand's president is an avid bird aficionado. He recently pointed me to the Audobon Society's recommendations on better glass design, which are fairly simple to incorporate into new design projects, such as fritted glass, glass divisions, like sunscreens at the New York Times Building, or angling the glass panels to reduce the amount of glare. Here is a short article about bird-friendly glass, recalling Louis Sullivan's coined phrase: Form Follows Feathers. We're hoping to recommend these design elements to our clients if give the opportunity.


Sunscreen louvers at the New York Times Building





Interior view of New York Times Building



Sunset Park

In my new neighborhood, dumpsters drive themselves around.





I kid.

The rogue dumpster was retrieved eventually.

More change on Brighton Beach Avenue

I'm not sure how I missed it, but Radin Pharmacy at 1077 Brighton Beach Avenue closed.  Prescriptions were moved to Walgreens. Sad. That pharmacy has looked exactly the same for the past 25 years.

Radin, captured by google streetcar

Anyone know why it closed?

Radin today