Artist Arthur Wood said the city is holding his hand-built home Broken Angel “hostage” for $70,000 in fines that the Buildings Department says he owes.
Wood’s famous Clinton Hill ziggurat caught fire in 2006, bringing it — and its alleged code violations — to the attention of the city. That attention led to fines.
“It’s extortion,” Wood said last Friday during a press conference in front of Brooklyn Supreme Court. “The whole project is dead in the water right now.”
No it’s not, said developer Shahn Andersen, who is working with Wood to transform the Downing Street building into 11 two-bedroom apartments (including one for Wood and his wife, Cynthia)
“The Department of Buildings gave Arthur some fines for building the original building,” said Andersen. “We will have to pay a reduced version of that fine before we get a certificate of occupancy [for the restored building].”
Andersen said he expected the Woods would be able to move back into Broken Angel this fall — exactly two years after the fire that sparked city scrutiny and caused the long displacement of the couple.
