One Brooklyn: Facade Work Nightmare

In early summer, the manager, who is an affiliate of the building's sponsor, sent out a message to residents that construction work would commence on the building's facade. The notice stated that residents would be updated as the work progressed, and residents would be notified ahead of their units being directly affected. This Fall, we learned that the work had progressed to our side of the... [more]

In early summer, the manager, who is an affiliate of the building's sponsor, sent out a message to residents that construction work would commence on the building's facade. The notice stated that residents would be updated as the work progressed, and residents would be notified ahead of their units being directly affected. This Fall, we learned that the work had progressed to our side of the building when debris - pebble to fist sized pieced of concrete, started raining down onto our terrace. When we complained to the manager, he did not apologize, but instructed us to stay off the terrace and had a sandbag placed in front of our door. A few weeks later, they started to use our terrace as a staging area. Workers started showing up on our terrace first thing in the morning. As there are hedges surrounding our terrace, we do not have the most robust blinds on our windows. The terrace looks in to every room in the apartment but the bathroom, so having people standing out there meaningfully reduces our privacy. When we asked the manager if we could have advance warning when there would be workers outside our windows he stated that we could not. When we asked how much longer to expect them to be out there, he stated 'until further notice.' Subsequently, they have started using our space as a dumping ground for debris. Chunks of concrete, metal reinforcement bars, shredded plastic tarps and general refuse litter our space. On the night of December 7th/early morning of December 8th, construction tools and materials from the roof that were not secured ahead of an obvious storm blew off and landed on our terrace right outside our windows. Besides waking us up, these items landed with such force that they broke through the 3" thick concrete blocks that the terrace is paved with. These workers do not speak English. When they see a camera in my hand, they turn away and leave the area, which leads me to believe they are here illegally. They are obviously not trained in safety protocols. The morning after the storm, the workers who arrived laughed when they saw the damage their tools and other unsecured debris had caused. I once looked out to see one of them urinating on the side of our planter. Instead of providing us with notice of the progress and doing everything they could to minimize the inconvenience of this construction project, it seems to me that the manager has cut every corner possible and is deliberately antagonizing me. Our unit looks out onto a garbage dump, and we feel like hostages in our own home. There are many things about this building and location that we really like, but this project has been a nightmare, and the manager could not be less professional or more rude. I am happy to speak further about my experiences, and I have pictures of the garbage and damage. I can be reached at jlugosch@yahoo.com [less]