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May 03, 2006
Greenpoint Fires & Real Estate Drama
Yesterday when I woke up I looked out the window and, seeing the dark gray overcast, I readied my umbrella for an impending rainstorm. On the train ride across the bridge however, I saw what turned out to be the "biggest fire since 9/11." An abandoned warehouse all ablaze, its smokey plumes literally blanketing Williamsburg in its entirety. Even on the train ride back home the fire fighters were still battling the blaze. Craziness. I immediately wrote it off as a secret ploy for the insurance money. But then...
Today, Curbed has dug out some really interesting information on the landlord and the buildings that burned down... I'm not really a big fan of gossip, but stuff like this gets my attention going like no other:
The buildings were up for preservation—several were expected to pass. The property is owned by Joshua Guttman, a landlord who has a history of his buildings burning down when its rezoning time. When the buildings burned two things happend: the chance for preservation dropped, making the architects renderings more likely; instead of paying for cleanup and abatement of toxic materials, all that shit burned into the air. Yay world-trade-center style cancers.
Oooh... something's goin' DOWN!
Posted by Charlie at May 3, 2006 09:12 AM