GRAMERCY — A massive crane has shut down a residential block of East 16th Street for up to three weeks as work crews move forward on a controversial renovation of a Gramercy private school.
Traffic will be closed on East 16th Street between Third Avenue and Rutherford Place for as long as three weeks, with workers using the crane to affix the steel structure of two new floors to a building on the campus of Friends Seminary, a Quaker K-12 school on the block, according to the contractor.
Guy DelRosso, of Tishman Construction, said crews are working as fast as they can and hope to get the steel beams in place sooner than the three weeks allotted on his permit — which allows the crane to remain on the block for 24-hours a day for that time period.
“We’re trying to move as fast as possible,” he said.
Work crews were able to give enough advance notice about the incoming crane that only one car had to be towed to make way, according to foreman Charlie Vitchers.
Neighbors who gathered at a construction update meeting on Monday evening were largely unconcerned with the temporary presence of the crane, with the exception of residents who had not managed to get fliers notifying them of the crane and the disruptions it would cause.
According to Bo Lauder, principal of Friends Seminary, the school distributed fliers to the doormen of neighboring buildings, but a number of the fliers appeared to have not gotten further than that.
The renovation of the campus is in its first phase, which involves adding two stories to the main school building, Hunter Hall. That part of the project is expected to be completed by September 2017.
The second phase, which will begin next March, will involve adding two stories to three adjoining townhouses, replacing the rear walls of those buildings, and connecting them so people can move freely between them.
The third phase consists of interior renovations to the townhouses and will last from May 2019 to September 2019.
A group of neighbors has long opposed the renovations, arguing that they will harm the character of the Stuyvesant Square Historic District in which the school sits. Those neighbors sued the Landmarks Preservation Commission over its approval of the plans, arguing that the commissioners had not allowed adequate public discourse before waving the project through in May 2015.
► Read more: Friends Seminary Parent on the Hook for Bogus Emails, City Memo Says
► Read more: Lawsuit Against City Approval of School Expansion Plan Will Go to Trial
The judge in that lawsuit ordered a trial to determine whether or not the LPC merely rubber-stamped the plans, and the next hearing in that lawsuit will take place on July 25.
Friends Seminary has also been at the center of a controversy since March, when DNAinfo broke the news that a wealthy parent had coordinated false testimony to the LPC by having employees email LPC pretending to be supportive neighbors of the project.
The Department of Investigations looked into the case and referred its findings to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, implying the possibility of criminal behavior on the part of parent, Luigi Caiola, a wealthy real-estate scion.
The school has long denied any foreknowledge of Caiola’s actions, and the DOI probe did not name the school as has having been involved with the plot. But Friends Seminary has also stood by Caiola, calling him a “beloved member of the school community” in a response to DNAinfo’s initial investigation.
