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Bricks fall —Â again —Â from Ratner-owned building
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del.icio.usTenants in a building slated to be torn down to make way for Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards ran for their lives last Wednesday as bricks fell from the building’s facade — the second time in the last three months that a Ratner-owned building suffered a partial collapse during demolition.
No one was injured, but residents of 540 Vanderbilt Ave. were temporarily evacuated. Tenants were largely left in the dark during the evacuation, according to John Corless, a resident.
But the Department of Buildings said residents had nothing to worry about, at least in the short term, The fallen bricks were not vital to the structural integrity of the building, which is near the southwest corner of Vanderbilt Yards, the train yard that Ratner wants to turn into a 16-skyscraper, arena, hotel, office building and apartment mini-city.
Ratner bought 540 Vanderbilt Ave. in 2005, and inherited the buiding’s rent-stabilized tenants. To evict them, Ratner must win approval from the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
“He’s tied up in court,” said Ed Josephson, a lawyer for South Brooklyn Legal Services, which represents numerous tenants in the area.
The evacuated residents were back in their homes by Saturday, according to Brian Moriarty of Forest City Ratner. The company declined to comment any further on the matter.
Forest City Ratner was hit with Department of Buildings violations in August after the brick face of the Wards Bakery building crashed down onto Pacific Street.
No one was injured in that building collapse, either, but the tons of falling brick totalled several cars.
©2007 The Brooklyn Paper
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