A view of the two-story building that collapsed onto Jamaica Avenue in April. File Photo
Community leaders are urging the city Department of Buildings to demolish a Woodhaven building that partially collapsed last April, saying the building has made neighbors so concerned about safety that the senior center next door was forced to move and an ambulance corps situated next to it is now working out of a garage. Additionally, civic leaders said the owner of the building at 78-19 Jamaica Ave. has done nothing to address a slew of violations that the city has slapped on the building.
“It’s just going to further deteriorate because they’re making no attempt to solve the problem,” said Maria Thomson, executive director of the Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation and the Woodhaven Business Improvement District. “When the roof collapsed last spring, it could’ve killed someone. What are they going to do – wait until it actually does kill someone before they do something?”
The roof of the abandoned furniture store on Jamaica Avenue collapsed in April, sending a storm of bricks crashing into an area often packed with vehicles and pedestrians during rush hour. A car was badly damaged in the collapse, but no one was hurt.
The owner of the building, registered as the 78-19 Jamaica Ave. LLC, is facing thousands of dollars of fines for such violations as a failure to maintain what is essentially a crumbling building and conducting work without a permit. The property has 33 open city DOB violations and 10 open city Environmental Control Board violations, according to city records.
The owner was not able to be reached for comment.
Thomson and her two organizations sent a letter to the city DOB about one month ago pleading with the agency to address what she called a very serious safety hazard in the neighborhood. She said the DOB told her “the building still has integrity” and will not be demolished.
The DOB did not respond to a request for comment.
Following the collapse, worries about the crumbling building next door forced the Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services Woodhaven Senior Center to move out of its recently redone center to the American Legion Post 118 on 91st Street in Woodhaven. Its departure has put a severe financial strain on the Woodhaven-Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps, which owns the building next to the structure that collapsed and which rented space to the senior center. Without the monthly income from the senior center, area leaders said the ambulance corps, which now has to operate out of its garage, is facing crushing financial concerns.
“It’s so sad that the volunteer ambulance corps is suffering, as are the poor senior citizens,” Thomson said. “They had this beautiful brand new hall. It’s so unfair to the community, to the elderly, to the ambulance corps.”
Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) is also urging the city to do something about the building.
“I think the Department of Buildings ought to take a second look at the building because, based upon the visual observations the neighbors have made, the building definitely lacks integrity, is now compromising the neighboring building which is the volunteer ambulance corps, and is creating a number of other problems because of the terrible state of disrepair it’s in,” Ulrich said. “That building needs to come down.”
By Anna Gustafson
