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City Cites Building for Missing Facade You wouldn't know it as you walk by 46 Laight Street, but the five-story former tenement, which faces the Holland Tunnel rotary, is missing an important structural feature: Its entire rear facade. Now an empty shell, the 133-year-old building was being readied for development into new apartments. That work came to a halt last month when Department of Buildings (DOB) inspectors discovered the absent wall. No DOB permit had been issued for the work, nor had the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) given its permission. The building is in the Tribeca North Historic District and changes to its exterior need agency approval. Even the project’s architect, Alexander Harrow of Freyer Collaborative Architects, said the demolition was done without his “knowledge or approval,” according to a letter he wrote last month to the Landmarks Commission. Reached by phone, developer Jeffrey Bennett declined to answer questions about the building, saying only that it is safe. Harrow also wouold not comment and the contractor on the job, Refik Radoncic of T&R Construction in Long Island City, did not return calls. According to some neighbors next door, whose lot-line windows overlook the building’s roof, problems at 46 Laight Street are not new. They have called the Buildings Department often in the past two years, alleging violations ranging from work without permits to the dangerous unloading of steel beams to a shoddy sidewalk shed. (One resident, Pam Harris, said her son was bloodied by a piece of metal hanging from the shed.) Buildings Department inspectors responded but in most cases reported no violation. However, the DOB did issue a violation in June after a piece of terra cotta fell from the parapet, hitting a pedestrian. Two years ago Bennett submitted a proposal to the Landmarks Commission to add a large two-story addition to the top of his building and went so far as to build a mockup on the roof to demonstrate its appearance from the street. The DOB turned down his application for the enlargement in March 2006. That month, in a letter to the LPC, Harrow wrote that the rear wall should be taken down because he feared that when interior beams, columns and joists were removed, the wall would “crumble.” “It has not failed yet but we don’t want to take any chances,” he wrote. Sarah Carroll, the LPC’s director of preservation, wrote back: “You should not begin the removal of the entire interior structure in anticipation of a future approval to add additional stories to the building because that type of application could be lengthy and we do not want to create a potentially hazardous condition while it is pending.” Last month, the architect acknowledged in a letter to the LPC that the owner had “veered away from approved plans.” The wall was taken down to “make way for the new structure,” he wrote, though no new structure had been approved. With the stop work order recently in place, Harrow was to appear before Community Board 1’s Landmarks Committee last month. Michael Levine, CB1’s assistant district manager, said he was looking for advisory approvals that included a three-story addition and “modification and rebuilding” of the rear facade. According to Levine, the architect said he was seeking “minor modifications” to the rear facade when he discovered the contractor had removed the entire wall. Harrow cancelled his appearance shortly before the meeting. “Something un-kosher clearly happened there,” Levine said. Meanwhile, some neighbors now worry that further construction delays will mean living next to the “messy work site” even longer. Said Pam Harris: “We would love for them to get their approvals, take the scaffold down and have nice people living there.”
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