Building Facades in Need of Repair

Yes a sensational headline that greatly exaggerates the situation.
The "1400" buildings consist of ...
1) yes, buildings that have flagrantly ignored their violations, and just pay the fines.
The real driver of this article. I be there are less than 50 buildings like this in all 5 boros.
2) buildings that have delayed finishing repairs by leaving the sidewalk sheds up several years and not completing the repairs. The sheds however function to protect those on the sidewalk in the case of falling debris, an umbrella for brick if you will.
3) buildings that are in their active year for local law 11 inspection and work. Getting inspected and finding an issue that gets you marked "unsafe" is quite easy. The range is quite large. Getting marked "unsafe " and completing repairs in 60/90 days is quite impossible. So you end up on "the list."
To further exacerbate things, the two companies left that create replacement terra cotta items for facade work in older buildings are seriously backlogged and can take 6-9 months just to get the materials.
Its quite sad where the NY Times started, and where it is today.

THe real story is the revenue stream this industry has produced.
The scaffold sheds are going nowhere and if you think this is bad, its actually going to get much worse for the future cycles.

I think an issue which is a problem which is being widely ignored is that the DOB is relatively toothless when it comes to enforcement. In the last building I lived in there are open violations which the building inspector wrote DANGEROUS PLACES AND THINGS in all caps across the top..... and are still open 2 decades later.

The woman who got killed in December - they had been issued a violation and paid a fine in April:
"According to city records, Department of Building inspectors issued a violation to the company in April because of a "failure to maintain exterior building façade."

The company paid a $1,250 fine in connection with the violation, which was listed as a Class 1 ticket, the highest level of severity, according to the department's website."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/us/ny-woman-debris/index.html

I am of the opinion that unless actual penalties are not only increased, but follow up on any violations issued, as well as disallowing "self certification" of remediation, that nothing is going to change

I don’t know, lawsuits are by far the biggest deterrent. Insurance company isn’t going to cover you or you building if you or your board was negligent.
What....like 2 people since mayor Koch have died from falling facade? I’m more likely to meet my demise from a situation created by a pedestrian texting. Certainly better chance from a lightning strike.

I don’t know, lawsuits are by far the biggest deterrent. Insurance company isn’t going to cover you or you building if you or your board was negligent.
What....like 2 people since mayor Koch have died from falling facade? I’m more likely to meet my demise from a situation created by a pedestrian texting. Certainly better chance from a lightning strike.

The problem with relying on "lawsuits" is that they are only Civil and still result in a "Traffic Ticket"/"Cost Of Doing Business" mentality. You want real deterrence take a look at the sentencing in the East 7th St explosion case. Now imagine if criminal penalties (no matter how small) were handed out without people having to die.

Or if you want to really go full Capitalism, offer bounties to private citizens for reporting violations and let evidence they submit to be allowed (i.e. you don't need a City employee to visit and witness for a violation to be issued). Apparently this tactic has been extremely effective in enforcing the Truck Idling Law.
https://nypost.com/2019/04/28/how-new-yorkers-are-making-bank-ratting-out-idling-drivers/
https://youtu.be/_nRmU5Lytdc

As far as sidewalk sheds go, I agree they are out of control. What we don't hear much about is the revenue loss to the retail businesses impacted by them. The whole reason for first floor retail is the exposure and foot traffic. When there is a sidewalk shed present this is tremendously reduced and especially at the astounding numbers being charged in rent for these spaces currently any reduction in traffic/visibility can be disastrous for the business owner. Add to this the fact that the amount of time these sheds are being erected for keeps increasing because as long as they are present building owners are not forced to commence facade repairs. So the owners simply erect sidewalk sheds, don't do facade repairs, and the real cost is borne by the retail business owners in lost business while they still must pay full rent.

As a solution I would propose that once a sidewalk shed has been in place for 6 months (enough time to reasonably complete facade repairs) retail businesses be given a 50% rebate on rent. That will give building owners a financial incentive to complete repairs on a timely basis. Note that there is a public benefit as well: not only are these sheds an eyesore, but also magnets for homeless and crime.

The thing is, the 7 story 10 unit co-op has the same requirements as the 20 story 50 unit one, a heavy burden on the smaller buildings.
My building is experiencing it right now.
We want the work done. We cannot finish it in 60 days, probably not in 9 months.
The terra cotta manufacturer is overrun. there is nothing in our power we can do to make it happen faster.

I agree there is a safety issue for the city, but there is more at play too. The big time developers have properties with $2.50 a foot plus maintenance costs. Compared to old co-op buildings with stable $1.25 to $2.00 a foot. Developers want those units permanently gone from the market. How do you do that?
You bankrupt the co-ops with more and more stringent local law facade work.
Work that your glass buildings will never need.
Then as a bonus, you can buy the old co-op building off the scrap heap to build a new glass tower.
Thankfully I'll be out of state within 5 years and I wont miss it.
Im so over NYC.

But lets look at real the numbers;
Over the past 10 years; $31 million in fines/ 6000 buildings failed or did not file.
Now that's a big pot of soup.
So an average of 600 buildings a year either failed or didnt file.
a) Did not file.
Does this include those who just file on time but filed late?
b) failed.
Failed means they found a safety issue. This could be anything! Something like the parapet wall for the roof being 39 inches instead of 42 because of a roof deck as an example.

The fix (if they follow thru) which sounds fair to me and doesnt punish those that dont have malicious intent;
"DOB plans to press criminal charges against owners of all buildings with sheds older than three years, a list that includes about 570 properties"

A more constructive article on the issue than the NY TImes and way shorter
https://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/Building-Operations/2020/February-2020/Buildings-Owners-Ignore-31-Million-in-Fines-Over-Unsafe-Facades

I agree that any building with a sidewalk shed more than 3 years needs to be penalized, but I share your scepticism at to that happening. But I also think for less than 3 years retail tenants need some relief.

It's also important to note that there are buildings with facade issues that don't have sidewalk sheds that may still pose a risk to the public. I sold an apartment last year in part because we had failed to make LL11 required repairs for years and were soon approaching our next cycle with absolutely no work done. While we were not required to have sidewalk sheds up for some reason there was evidence of crumbling brick and cracks on the building, and one piece of brick apparently did fall in an interior courtyard.

The estimates we were receiving for repairs ranged between $30-$100K per unit (depending on how many phases of work we had completed) and I figured I'd get out while I still could. Now it's been another nine months and neighbors that I'm still friendly with say work is supposed to start "soon" but I suspect with weather issues that's still months away. And during the several years when we were not in compliance we never received a single fine btw!

nycseller,
In the last building I was in we were not required to comply because it was a 4 story walk-up (3 Brownstones put together). In 2004 there was obvious spalling and the facade needed tending to. The Board got a quote of $75,000 to patch and paint the facade, but did nothing. Every year the annual financials stated the Board knew of no major capital projects which needed to be done and ignored the facade work. Finally in 2015 when chunks of the building were falling off the Board was forced to do the facade work which cost $850,000.