On Monday evening, May 8 at 6:30, the Brooklyn Historical Society will present “100 Clark Street: A Case Study in Navigating Building Codes, Gravity, and Landmark Preservation,” a panel discussion about the difficulties faced by owner Margaret Streicker Porres and architect (and former Brooklyn Heights Association president) Tom van den Bout (his professional partner, Brenda Nelson, is also his partner in life and wife) in “saving [a] landmarked, 150-year old building [photo] from certain demolishment.” Their discussion will be led by Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council. Admission is $10, or $5 for BHS or BHA members; more information and purchase tickets here.

On Tuesday evening,May 9 at 7:00, BHS will present “Talking Privilege with Hari Kondabolu and Jordan Carlos,” two actors and stand-up comedians who will “bring their observations [on race, gender, and social class] to BHS in this unmoderated, one-on-one conversation.” Admission is $10, or $5 for BHS members; more information and purchase tickets here.

The Eagle reports that construction workers were seen jackhammering the sidewalk outside the derelict eyesore that is 100 Clark Street, at the corner of Monroe Place, on Friday. According to the Eagle story, George Arzt, a spokesman for the building’s owner, Newcastle Realty Services, said the workers were “doing preliminary sidewalk and shed work in preparation for receiving the necessary permits from city agencies.” The Eagle story continues:

Newcastle’s restoration design, as approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, includes slate roof shingles and wrought iron fencing, the addition of a stoop and entrance stair on Monroe Place and the recreation of a mansard roof that had been added long ago to 100 Clark.

The restored building will have five apartments, probably condos. Under its previous ownership it had been chopped up into eighteen.

I walked by this morning and took the photo above. I was disappointed not to see any construction activity; but, as the story says, the owners are awaiting permits. I hope, as do many neighbors, that the permits come soon and that, when they do, construction will proceed promptly. Newcastle has owned the building for five years.

At the corner of Clark Street and the bucolic Monroe Place resides the notorious neighborhood eyesore, 100 Clark Street.  The Brooklyn Eagle cheekily reports the dilapidated “half-demolished historic house” owned by Newcastle Realty Services has been slapped with new Buildings Department violations including a “partially open roof” and cracked facade.  The Eagle also reports the Scaffold Safety Team issued violations for the sidewalk shed and a construction fence.

Violation Notice from Buildings Department

An impromptu search of the NYC Buildings site quickly revealed a “Property Profile Overview” for 100 Clark Street/1 Monroe Place complete with links to complaints and violations issued against the building.  The most recent eight complaints date from July 3rd through August 10th of this year and range from a leaning building to loose construction materials and water entering the premises through holes in the roof.

The Brooklyn Eagle article goes on to give a brief history of the blighted property which includes the demolition of two floors in May of 2008, stopped by a court order.  A Newcastle spokesperson,  George Arzt responded to the paper’s inquiry about repairs and renovation with one statement, “We are working with the Department of Buildings toward approval of our plans.”

The popular Real Estate blog, Curbed has posted numerous articles about the beleaguered building.  A missive dated March 20, 2014 gives a glimpse of the renovation plan. Your guess is as good as ours as to when the project will actually come to fruition.  Until then, maybe walk on the other side of the street just to be safe.

The neighborhood eyesore at 100 Clark Street (aka 1 Monroe Place) will get a new stoop, staircase, a restored mansard roof courtesy of owner Newcastle Realty Services. The Brooklyn Eagle also reports that floors lost due to neglect will also be replaced. DOB approval is pending.

Crews demolish 100 Clark Street’s original mansard roof in 2008. BHB photo by Homer Fink

Brooklyn Eagle: What has taken Newcastle – which paid $1.25 million for what’s left of the 1850s-vintage Greek Revival property in the Brooklyn Heights Historic District – so long to get started on the reconstruction?

Money “is not the issue,” [DOB spokesperson George] Arzt said. “It’s the complexity of the job.”

RELATED: Watching a Landmark Crumble

Also on today’s docket, an application to construct a rear addition to 100 Clark Street and to alter window openings.

The building was listed by MK back in April. In their press release at that time, it was claimed that “three tenants retain occupancy rights; however preliminary settlement papers were drafted for them to permanently vacate.” It also stated that there is an $18 million wrongful demolition lawsuit pending and that there would be “significant upside” for the new owner to carry on with the litigation.

Full press release after the jump.

MK Press Release: MASSEY KNAKAL SELLS PARTIALLY DEMOLISHED BROWNSTONE
IN BROOKLYN HEIGHTS
Massey Knakal’s Special Asset Strategy Group is pleased to announce the sale of a partially demolished brownstone at 100 Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights. The brownstone, taken back through the foreclosure process and sold by the lender with its previous tenancy and liens in place, was sold in an all cash transaction valued at $1,250,000.
In May 2008, the City of New York partially demolished the 1852 five-story walk-up building, located on the south west corner of Clark Street and Monroe Place, on the ground of unsafe building conditions. The lot is approximately 25’x 78’ and contains approximately 7,976 buildable square feet. The property is a prime opportunity for a redevelopment into a single
family or multifamily. The sale price equates to $186 per buildable square foot.
“This sale proved to be complex as it included prior tenancies, liens, and the Landmark’s approval process,” said Massey Knakal Partner James P. Nelson who exclusively handled this transaction with Massey Knakal First Vice President of Sales Stephen Palmese and the assistance of Massey Knakal’s Special Asset Strategy Group. “After receiving over a dozen offers, we were able to secure a sophisticated buyer, who was able to navigate through these intricacies and close on an “as-is, where-is” basis,” added Palmese.
Massey Knakal specializes in the sale of investment and user properties in the New York Metropolitan area. Since 2001, our agents have closed over 2,000 transactions, with an aggregate value of approximately $10 billion.

Brownstoner reports that 100 Clark Street, which risked demolition by dereliction in 2008, is on the block.  Massey Knakal is handling the listing.  There’s no listing price, but they are taking bids.

The listing also includes a nifty “artist’s conception” of what the property would look like with a little TLC  errrrr…. make that a ton of cash and lots of patience.

Massey Knakal: A 25’x78’ level, partially demolished brownstone, situated at the corner of Clark Street & Monroe Place, in Brooklyn Heights. In May 2008, the City of New York partially demolished the 1852 (circa) 5-story brick & wood walk up apartment building on the grounds of unsafe building conditions. Three rent stabilized tenants on record who are governed by the DHCR were removed from the premises and relocated, due to a vacate order. The three tenants retain occupancy rights; however preliminary settlement papers were drafted for them to permanently vacate.
On May 22nd, 2009, there was a lawsuit commenced against the City of New York’s DOB, Landmarks Preservation Commission, HPD, as well as Ferrco Engineering, A. Russo Wrecking Inc., and Lakhi General Contractor Inc. seeking equitable relief and money damages totaling $18,000,000 plus the recovery of legal fees for the improper demolition of the property. There is significant upside for a buyer to carry out the lawsuit or settle and redevelop the property into a single family or multi-family.

Raanan Geberer writes an interesting op-ed piece in the Brooklyn Eagle about the demolition of 100 Clark Street. It’s worth reading and discussing:

Brooklyn Eagle: Reflections on 100 Clark Street: As this op-ed is being written, much is being made of the unfortunate case of 100 Clark St., a mid-19th-century townhouse with an “Addams Family”-style Mansard roof, which was much larger than a brownstone. The building was neglected for at least 30 years and had a host of building-code violations. It may have been a mansion at one time, but was subdivided into tiny apartments years ago.

Did someone say Mansard Roof? Hmm…isn’t there a band from Brooklyn Heights with a song entitled…

Photo: McBrooklyn

A number of complaints regarding 100 Clark Street flowed into the Department of Buildings over the weekend. According to the DOB website, callers complained about “creaking noises” and debris falling from the scaffolding. The DOB is currently under a Stop Work Order brought by the building’s owner the Penson Companies.   When the building was vacated over the Memorial Day weekend, the plan was to demolish the first two stories of the building.  Following inspection, reports came that the DOB had planned to take down the entire building.  They were stopped by the owners last week.

This weekend BHB spotted workers putting up 2x4s and framework in what appeared to be an attempt to shore up the building.

100 Clark Street Creaking and Rocking [McBrooklyn]

The Brooklyn Eagle sheds some interesting light on the demolition of 100 Clark Street. According to the report published today, the DOB had decided that the entire structure, not just the top two floors as originally announced, needed to be taken down. Current owners, the Penson Companies went to court to stop the DOB from tearing the entire building down. As a result, the Eagle says, a stop work order has been issued.

Let’s hope that Penson’s plan is to resurrect and restore this landmark building.

McBrooklyn reports that workers at 100 Clark are saying the entire building will be coming down.

Photo: mcbrooklyn

The Brooklyn Eagle covers the tragedy at 100 Clark Street (aka 1 Monroe Place) and includes a quote from BHA Executive Director Judy Stanton. Clearly the finger pointing has begun in this saga:

Brooklyn Eagle: Historic Heights…: Judy Stanton, executive director of Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA), reminded us that an article in the most recent edition of the BHA’s newsletter, “Dereliction of Duty,” spotlighted several neglected, deteriorating buildings — including 100 Clark St.

“It’s a real shame,” she said, “that the building was allowed to deteriorate to the extent that the city was forced to evacuate the remaining tenants … Landmarks could have worked collaboratively with the city to bring ‘demolition by neglect’ charges” to force the owner’s hand to undertake restoration, she said.

As for the overall value of Brooklyn Heights being impacted by the loss of 100 Clark (in all fairness jury is out until we know what replaces it, how it will/won’t be restored) and the other neglected buildings in the neighborhood — could the BHA have launched some sort of class action suit against the owners? There are enough lawyers who read this blog. Weigh in, won’t you?

I met a woman who was three years old when the original owner of what was then a mansion died and the building was turned into apartments. She told me it was an SRO for many years, so notorious for fires that it had its own call box.

It was built by a doctor, had a stoop up to the home floors with his office in the garden apartment. There was a garden but it was filled in with an addition. She worries a bit about the demolition workers because it has so many staircases going every which way that they could collapse if they aren’t careful.(via Flickr)

BHB Photo Club pic by fkuffel

The groundswell of rage over the “demolition by dereliction” of 100 Clark Street is growing. Brownstoner does their homework and reveals a few new facts including:

Brownstoner: The marketing document Penson has been using in recent months to try to sell the building (the price had started at $4.45 million but had recently gotten as low as $3.5 million) reveals that the tenants were paying monthly rents of $550, $617, and $575 and that approved plans had been approved by Landmarks for a rear extension that would have taken the size of the building from 8,000 square feet to 9,750 square feet. So we’re talking about the difference between the building being worth $3.5 million and $10 million. Sound like reason enough to look the other way?

Brownstoner photo by Ali Lovell

The current owners of 100 Clark Street, the Penson Companies, cannot be completely blamed for the years of neglect that caused this weekend’s demolition of its top two floors. However this “demolition by dereliction” in a landmarked neighborhood is positively criminal and it happened on this company’s watch. And it’s pretty certain that Penson has deep enough pockets to have done the right thing and preserved this structure. Clearly, Penson’s desire to rid 100 Clark of its renters is most likely at the heart of this unforgivable act of destruction in one of New York City’s best preserved neighborhoods. The Penson folks reportedly don’t have the greatest reputation when it comes to dealing with rent stabilzed tenants (ahem Candy Factory).

Maybe it’s time for the folks at the Penson Companies to hear from those who aren’t their tenants and/or direct recipients of its alleged harassment and neglect.

Rise up Brooklyn Heights residents and let Penson hear our outrage about their declaration of war upon our landmarked neighborhood.

Penson Staff directory

Penson Companies
275 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
PHONE: (212) 529-4444
FAX: (212) 279-2434

E-mail: info@pensoncompanies.com

We understand that Penson put 100 Clark Street up for sale before this disaster.  It’s also never to late to redeem yourselves — rebuild it as it was and show us you respect the aesthetics of Brooklyn Heights.

If anyone from the company would like to enlighten us on their side of this story please contact us webmaster AT brooklynheightsblog.com .

Photo: McBrooklyn

The New York Post reports today on the evacuation and condemnation of 100 Clark Street. The article says “an anonymous tipster” called 311 Saturday to alert them about the top two floors of the building protuding more than 13 inches over Clark Street:

“It’s been a very, very badly neglected building,” said Frank Folisi, landlord of the building next door.

“Everyone who has owned this building has taken money out of it and not put any money into it. I don’t walk on that side of the street anymore.

“I don’t see how taking out the top two floors will keep the building from deteriorating further. It’s bowing on the ground floor as well.”

Most of the people living at 100 Clark Street left in 2004, the last time the DOB had issues with the structure. A few remained until this weekend:

“It’s very stressful for me,” said tenant Ofer Nevo, 55, who took part in both evacuations… Nevo has been trying to negotiate a buyout with the building’s owners, Edward and Andrew Penson.

The Post adds that the Pensons have been issued fines for building violations.

Update: Crews are working right now (1:34pm Sunday) on removing the top two floors of 100 Clark Street. The building was recently named by the BHA as one of several neglected buildings in Brooklyn Heights in danger of “demolition via dereliction.”

More photos after the jump:

BHB newshound “Paul” writes:

The story of the shabby building at the corner of Monroe Place and Clark has dramatically changed today.

Someone called 311 after seeing no work done on it for such a long time; inspectors came and declared it unsafe. The fire escape on the top floor, and other parts, too, are showing the walls to be bulging
so badly that they declared the building uninhabitable, and the top two floors are going to have to come off. I was out there around 5pm, talking to the site manager from I forget what office, who had
apparently had to tell the residents that they need to relocate. I didn’t know that only three people were living in the 16-unit building. They shut off gas to the building from the gas main under
the street, and numerous emergency vehicles were parked on Clark and Monroe Place, including a cherry-picker on a huge, long flatbed truck.

BHB Reader Andrew Porter directs us to this photo of 100 Clark during the Blizzard of ’88 (1888, that is) from the Brooklyn New York Public Library.

Everyone who read the BHA Spring newsletter a couple of weeks ago was buzzing about the “abandoned house” article. Today, Brownstoner covers each of the decaying Heights Horrors and provides a little detail:

Brownstoner: Dereliction of Duty: The “majestic brownstone” at 194 Columbia Heights, “vacant and padlocked for decades,” is owned by a psychiatrist with an office on Henry Street who did not return our calls…

The multi-family building known as 100 Clark Street nearly collapsed in 2004, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, and is still in miserable shape. The Penson Company bought the building for $3.65 million two years ago and has since put it back on the market …

Quaint 25 Willow Place has been vacant for over 40 years, according to the newsletter, adding “The house may soon be a candidate for Demolition by Neglect, a provision of the NYC Landmarks Law that allows the Commission to take an owner to court in order to save a landmarked building from irreparable deterioration.”

There’s only one person who can shame these folks into fixing up their property. And that friends is Arnold Diaz. Yes.  Mr. Shame on You:

194 Columbia Heights photo by Brownstoner