GRAMERCY — A stalled Third Avenue worksite that neighbors have bemoaned as an eyesore could be back on track in action after the city issued a new work permit — but the owner still has hurdles ahead, according to a Department of Buildings spokesman.
The contractor of 133 Third Ave. near 14th Street got a work permit from the DOB last week that allows them to repair concrete works on the building’s south wall and shore up the existing walls where a breach in 2012 sent concrete pouring into a neighboring NYU dorm and halted construction, according to city records.
The Jan. 24 permit allows the developer, John Pappas of McArthur Morgan LLC and his contractor, Michail Brempos of B Genco Contracting Corp, to correct construction problems that that led to the site being slapped with a stop work order in 2012.
Once a DOB inspector checks out the site and gives the go-ahead, the stop-work order on the property will be partially lifted, allowing Pappas to fix the original structural problem with the neighboring building. But he will still have to file for new permits and get inspections for other problems, including a cracked sidewalk and an improperly installed sidewalk shed, according to DOB spokesman Alex Schnell.
“Once he’s resolved the partial stop-work order, he will be able to do whatever repairs are needed to protect the adjoining property,” Schnell said. “Then he will have to have another inspection and take care of the other issues in order to get everything lifted.”
“Before they can go back to building the main structure they will need to get all of this resolved,” he added.
Pappas still owes nearly $20,000 in fines and has 10 open Environmental Control Board violations at the site for infractions including lack of signage and leaving temporary equipment on-site after the expiration of a permit.
Work has stalled at the site since 2012, when workers accidentally sent concrete pouring through a wall into a neighboring NYU dorm. The owner of the dorm sued, and Pappas and the dorm owner have been locked in litigation ever since.
As a result of the stalled work, a sidewalk shed taking up nearly all of the sidewalk in front of the property has become an eyesore and a magnet for litter and public urination, neighbors complain. In addition, a section of sidewalk in front of the property is broken, and the work site’s proximity to a bus shelter makes queuing up for the bus a pain, neighbors say.
The MTA and Department of Transportation OK'd a work order to move the bus stop about half a block to the southeast corner of East 15th Street and Third Avenue, but that plan stalled as well because Brempos never responded to an invoice for the work, officials said last month.
The contractor denied ignoring the invoice and said he planned to pay for the moving of the bus stop as soon as he had work permits, but he declined to provide proof of having responded to the city’s invoice.
Neither Brempos nor Pappas responded to requests for comment.
