On June 29, the Department of Buildings issued an Immediately Hazardous — Class 1 violation at the Steam Plant, and a stop-work order. Class 1 is the most severe classification DOB issues.
What the inspector found: a portion of the masonry at the East smokestack base had been removed to install a steel beam. When he asked for the site safety manager — the person legally responsible for keeping that work safe — none was available.
The order: stop all demolition operations. Bracing only.
The penalty: $10,000 — unpaid. The violation is still open, with a hearing set for September 3.
This demolition was never ordered as an emergency — HPD and DOB have both confirmed that, in writing and on the record. The work to take it down has now drawn two stop-work orders from two agencies in one month — DEP on June 12, finding the asbestos work was performed in violation and “poses a threat to human safety,” and DOB on June 29.
Here is how the community found out. One of us photographed work at a smokestack on June 25 and emailed every agency and elected official the next morning. DOB inspected and issued the violation on June 29. On July 3, HPD’s reply mentioned a stop-work order existed — one sentence, framed as a paperwork amendment. The Class 1 classification, the $10,000, the missing safety manager, the September hearing: none of it was in that email. We found it in DOB’s own records.
That is the pattern. Residents called the State about the oil tanks — DEC came and found a spill. A resident photographed a smokestack being opened — DOB issued a Class 1. Eight months of site work — enforcement from three agencies: an open DEC spill case, a DEP stop-work order, a DOB stop-work order.
Worth remembering: demolition was ordered in July 2024, with five months referenced in the order. Two years later, it hasn’t started. Repairing both smokestacks costs less than demolishing them.
We are not against building here — we’re against wasting what’s already built. Adaptive reuse of this 1939 building — affordable housing, community space, room for a school and kindergarten — decided with this community, not announced to it.
The Community Advisory Group meets today — 10 AM. RIOC posts the recordings and minutes on its Steam Plant page and its YouTube channel. Watch what gets asked. Watch what gets answered. And email RIdemolition@hpd.nyc.gov and info@rioc.ny.gov and ask why residents can’t watch live and ask their own questions. This is your community.
Sign and share this petition — help us reach 2,500.
Support the fundraiser. Our GoFundMeis live: https://gofund.me/1e10ac8d3
ArchRI
archrica.org · info@archrica.org · @TheArchRI