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Residents of 'leaning tower' hope to go back

By David Freedlander | dfreedlander@am-ny.com

January 18, 2008

287 Broadway in lower Manhattan is being supported by wooden beams after the demolition of an adjoining building. (Dave Sanders / January 16, 2008)

Tenants who were forced to relocate when the city's "leaning tower" seemed on the verge of collapse hope to find out from city officials Friday when they will be allowed back in their building.

amNewYork reported Thursday that the building at 287 Broadway in lower Manhattan began leaning dangerously to the south when the John Buck Co., a Chicago-based developer, started excavation work on the adjacent site in order to build a 20-story residential tower.

The city's Department of Buildings is expecting a progress report on the stabilization of the tower from its owner Friday. It would then be up to the agency to decide whether tenants are allowed back in.

Residents of the building, which include three residential tenants, a diner, a photo store and a shoe repair business, are waiting for the construction crew to replace the wooden beams currently shoring up the structure with steel ones. The building is not in danger of collapsing, according to the property's management.

Some are accusing the landlord, Century Realty, of deliberately stalling in order to relocate the rent-controlled tenants elsewhere. The tenants currently are not paying rent.

"There is a tremendous motivation on the part of the landlord to say, 'I didn't want this to happen but I now I have a free building that I can sell or do something else with,'" said Arlene Boop, an attorney representing Cora Cohen, one of the building's tenants.

Kenneth Dubow, the property manager at the site, disputed the assertion.

"That's a reprehensible thing to say," he said. "We and the buildings department are doing everything possible to make sure everything is safe before we allow people back in. God forbid there be a catastrophe."

The building was leaning approximately 8 inches to one side when buildings department inspectors in November noticed it and ordered the construction engineers to shore it up to keep it from collapsing. Inspectors subsequently issued a vacate order.

The cast-iron Italianate structure dates to 1872 and was designed by John Snook, who was also the architect for the St. Nicholas Hotel and the first Grand Central Depot.

The business owners who rely on the space for their livelihood can't wait for their building to be opened again.

"Things are very difficult right now," said Luis Guaman, who operates a now shuttered shoe repair shop downstairs. "The little money I had paid for food and bills and I don't have any more money right now."

Numerous phone calls to the John Buck Co. were not returned.