By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — The city's Department of Buildings (DOB) handed down a full stop order on construction at a swanky Greenwich Village construction project Monday, after a metal rod went flying through the window of a neighboring apartment building, according to a spokeswoman for the agency.
The DOB had ordered a partial stop work order last week, after they found construction crews at 61 Fifth Ave. were working without the proper protections for the adjacent building's rooftop.
On Monday, owners of 59 Fifth Ave. next door said they discovered a piece of metal rebar had flown through a window into one of the apartments.
"It was like a javelin," Hamid Kermanshah, who helps manage the building at 59 Fifth Ave., said of the approximately 10-inch rod, which lay on the ground of a second floor apartment next to a broken window Monday afternoon.
No one was injured by the rebar, and the apartment it landed in is currently unoccupied.
However, one of the owners of the damaged apartment building, Magid Kermanshah, said he blames the construction next door, at 61 Fifth Avenue, for the vacancy.
In fact, Kermanshah claimed that the project had driven out all of the tenants from the building's five apartments.
"They all moved out," Kermanshah said. "Because of the noise."
Calls to property owners, 61 Fifth Ave. LLC, went unanswered. The number for S.E.A. Construction in Mineola had been disconnected.
While Kermanshah, who also owns an Oriental rug and tapestries store on the block, said he's not seeking any type of financial reimbursement from the developers, he hopes the incident will move them to improve communication with their neighbors.
"They just do what they want — they don't tell us anything," he complained of the developer.
The construction project at 61 Fifth Ave. is set to become a 10-story apartment building with ground-floor retail space, according to a description on the architect's website. All nine of the residential floors will be occupied by just three apartments – two duplexes and a triplex, the description said.
Work will be allowed to resume after the construction company is found to be in compliance with the safety requirements, a DOB spokeswoman said.
