By Gus Saltonstall
There has been a sidewalk shed at the southeast corner of West 104th Street and Broadway for more than a decade.
The sidewalk shed went up at 2720 Broadway sometime between 2012 and 2013, enveloping the next-door Ben & Jerry’s storefront. The shed was then extended during 2014 to also cover the McDonald’s at 2726 Broadway.
“It is unfair that our community has to bear having to see this sidewalk shed for over a decade, and its impact on the street,” Councilmember Shaun Abreu told West Side Rag in an interview.
The longtime shed was also singled out in a recent 104th Street Block Association meeting that the Rag attended as a blight within the surrounding community.
The saga surrounding the sidewalk shed at 2720 Broadway has a myriad of noteworthy elements, including the fact that the building is owned by the city. In addition, its renovation work has a partial work-stop order that has halted construction, and it recently received a violation labeling the property as a “structurally compromised building.”
In April, the residents of the homeless shelter within the building had to move out following an order from the FDNY.
The 2720 Broadway Renovation Project
Once again, 2720 Broadway is owned by the city. The Upper West Side building is home to the Regents Family Residence, a transitional Department of Social Services (DSS) homeless shelter run by Volunteers of America, serving 140 families.
The Department of Building’s (DOB’s) active sidewalk shed tracker states that the 344-foot-long shed at 2720 Broadway has been up for 2,119 days (five years and eight months). The tracker, though, does not always show the full timeline of a sidewalk shed’s existence, as the timeline can restart when a permit for the address expires and a new one is filed with the city.
While the tracker only has the sidewalk shed existing at the corner of West 104th Street and Broadway since 2018, Google Maps imagery clearly shows the sidewalk shed at the site in 2013.
The construction at the site is due to an ongoing renovation project for the Regents Family Residence.
That work is being overseen by the city’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC). The agency is the city’s primary capital construction project manager, and oversees work at sites such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, courthouses, and homeless shelters.
The DOB’s website also shows that there is a “partial stop work order” for the construction at 2720 Broadway due to “electrical work without a permit.”
When asked for comment about the sidewalk shed at 2720 Broadway and the partial stop work order, a spokesperson for DSS referred us to the DDC for more information about the specifics.
“We are currently managing a project at the Regents Family Residence for exterior façade and roof reconstruction,” a spokesperson from the DDC told the Rag. “A vacate order — that was not due to DDC vendors — was issued and our work at the site has been suspended until further notice. Prior to the vacate order, DDC construction began in 2018 and was expected to be completed later in 2024,” the spokesperson added.
Initially, the city agency did not answer our request for a new timeline for the completion of the project, including when the sidewalk shed would be removed.
When asked again, the DCC spokesperson said the following:
“We anticipate that some time in June the Department of Homeless Services will be able to resolve the issue preventing us from working on the outside of the building. Once the issue is resolved we have about six months of work remaining. The original schedule was to complete the job by November so we do not anticipate a significant adjustment of that timeline.”
The sidewalk shed is also expected to come down at the completion of the project.
A spokesperson from the DSS told the Rag that the issue preventing the facade work from resuming had been solved, and all that was left was filing the proper paperwork. The agency reiterated that the renovation work was expected to start back up in June.
Violations at 2720 Broadway
The Regents Family Residence, which is owned by the city, has more than its fair share of violations, from the city.
The address has 147 open violations from the DOB, Office of Administration Trials and Hearings, and the Environmental Control Board, according to the DOB.
Those violations include the label of a “structurally compromised building” and subsequent failure to submit an acceptable inspection for that designation; a leaky boiler; and multiple issues with the building’s gas meter, according to the DOB.
The 2720 Broadway address has also received 168 complaints over the years, including multiple concerns over the sidewalk shed.
Issues within the building came to a climax on April 2, 2024, when FDNY issued a full vacate order for the property.
“The Fire Department has determined that conditions in the premises are imminently perilous to life in the case of fire,” the FDNY said on a sign taped to the door of 2720 Broadway.
The families living within the building had to move out that day and were sent to various shelters across the five boroughs. The families are not expected to be able to move back into the Upper West Side building until after the renovation work is done.
DSS did not confirm to West Side Rag or Abreu if the unsafe conditions found by the FDNY within the building had to do with the renovation work.
“The city’s failure to address this property has made the situation a lot worse there, and we need them to address both the facade needs, and the internal part of the building,” Abreu said.
“It sends the wrong message to our community, that we aren’t made a priority. This is city-owned property, we’re pointing fingers at the administration here. At the end of the day, it just needs to happen. The Upper West Side is asking for this,” he added.
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Thanks, WSR, for trying to get accurate information on this ridiculous situation. I live a block away, and my neighbors and I are enraged and frustrated by the conditions there.
The sidewalk shed and building materials pen are disgusting and decrepit, and constantly filled with trash and junk. Work starts, then stops, yet the gross port a potty remains.
The entire debacle is absurd. The building is unsafe for residents, but safe for Ben & Jerry’s customers, and for the people who use BeFit and Bridge for Dance?
Agree with Lizzie 100%. As a business owner on this block I can tell you that this sidewalk shed has been a constant source of frustration and disgust for over 10 years. I had a glimmer of hope one day a little over 5 years ago when it was taken down, but it was immediately reassembled within a day or two. I’m assuming this accounts for the permitting timeline gap mentioned in the story.
This has to be an enormous sum of wasted taxpayer money as these sheds are expensive and it is a city owned building. It really is a huge negative quality of life issue for both residents and businesses in the area and affects the entire block. It has only gotten worse during covid/post covid. A while back there was a WSR article about the dirtiest blocks on the UWS and this was one of the top blocks mentioned in the story. It’s time for it to come down.
Every happy facade inspection and repair is happy in the same way but every troubled facade inspection and repair is troubled in a different way. The real problem here is the requirement that there be a shed in the first place. There are so many other ways to address construction hazards, like closing the sidewalk when there is active work, netting near effected areas, etc. every other city in the world has figured it out. putting up a shed for 10 years and leaving it there is the most expensive thing to do and it needs to stop! Repeal local law 11 and ban sidewalk sheds!
The law was promulgated after a Barnard student was killed by a piece of falling masonry. That would happen all over again without that law. What we need is a law limiting the amount of time sheds can stay up.
Yes! 100 times yes. Repeal the scaffolding law!!
You said: “There are so many other ways to address construction hazards”
Absolutely true. However, then the scaffolding companies would lose their annuity. And what an annuity it is. Perpetual.
And who owns the scaffolding companies, or should I say, who are the silent partners?
This is one of the great scams of all times. Perpetual annuity indeed.
Unfortunately this is exactly the issue. This racket benefits a politically connected select few immensely.
Does Mayor Adams have the authority to repeal Local Law 11?
Or at least increase the lag time between mandated facade inspection to 7 or 8 years instead of 5.
The biggest problem with LL11 is that the 5 year inspection requirement is based on a fixed schedule vs starting AT THE END of any restoration work. In practice, this means that the next cycle of LL11 work starts 2-3 years (at most) after the previous cycle.
At a minimum, the law needs to change for the 5 year clock to start at the end of the restoration work. The effect will be to have an approximately 7-8 year cycle.
That would be better than what we have now. Mark Levine was talking about changing Law 11, but I haven’t heard more about that in a while.
Any chance you could supply the phone number of the responsible city office so that concerned citizens who think this is unacceptable can let the right people know? Perhaps a followup story in December?
Commissioner and other people who run city agencies are not chosen for their competence. They are chosen for their loyalty to Adams and/or because they are receiving payback for contributions or other things they did to further Adams’ career.
City Council Pres Adrienne Adams wants a bill that subjects high level mayoral appointments to “advice and consent” vetting by the City Council. Instead of seeing that his appointees are highly qualified and tested, Adams rushes to set up a commission to change relevant laws.
We NEED A NEW BETTER MAYOR
Thanks WSR for doing the job the media should be doing everywhere. This type of reporting and scrutiny is crucial if we are ever to get our government working for us again.
There are so many levels of incompetence and embarrassment for the city on this.
The entire system re: scaffolding and sidewalk sheds needs a major investigation by the Public Advocate or the press and other appropriate independent entities. It is undoubtedly rife with malfeasance and bribery. There is simply no excuse for every single block to be blighted with these monstrous constructions. And yes, it is likely perfectly safe to extend the time between inspections. In addition, let us see strict enforcement of fines and other penalties for violators. Scaffolding is a major scourge on our city. Outrageous!
Happy to hear that the end may be in sight. It would be considerate of the building staff to power wash the Broadway portion of the sidewalk once in a while. It’s been completely abandoned by them.
This should be s NYT front page article. It’s both outrageous and disgraceful. The height of incompetence.
Thank you so much for addressing this most important ongoing problem for our neighborhood. I was at the meeting of the 104th Street Block Association where this issue was brought up. I’m so grateful to the WSR and you, Gus, for taking it on and exposes the issue.
I’ve called 311 numerous times on this shed. It’s time to come down. This article is a start, but I encourage everyone to call and complain. That block has so much potential — plowshares coffee, cafe du soleil, shakespearke and co, ben & jerry’s — but that shed really makes it difficult to shop/walk/etc.
Children who were attending PS 145 and other nearby schools are now in shelters all over NYC? Forced to switch schools in April?
And what has happened to the Regent staff?
I may have missed this in the lengthy article and comprehensive comments, but I think it’s important that the building be identified as an individual NYC designated landmark. It’s important this be considered in the quality and demands of the work being done and the expectations that the building be treated accordingly
Landmarks has made the onerous work of LL11 even more difficult. As a resident of a morningside heights co-op, we have had to wait more than 2 years for work to proceed on our LL11 due to landmarks requiring an exact replica of a very small piece of stonework on the front facade, which can only be manufactured by 1 or 2 vendors with a very long waitlist. Get with the times and modernize regulations! New materials are probably better and look the same. We have had an unwanted shed up that entire time, costing us money and giving us all depression by blocking our limited sunlight, in addition to the sidewalk-level reduction in quality of life. NYC is making it increasingly difficult for regular people to live here (and I have been here since birth). Politicians should update LL11 ASAP.
Agreed, and also representative of the demands that Landmarks makes on all sorts of buildings in the neighborhood (which slows down work).
Outrageous. The shed was certainly there when I moved in nearby in 2016.
Homeless families need to a path to ownership, only way for long term sustainability of such buildings…
Arguably the worst block in the city.
This photo was uploaded to Flickr on May 12, 2013 and shows the sidewalk shed:
https://flic.kr/p/eiDbia
Thank you, WSR, for the information in this article. The Regent renovations are a colossal failure, particularly in this moment when the city needs every unit of affordable housing/housing for homeless. There is no accountability with this building, each city agency is just working in their silo. I asked DDC about the stop work order and they basically said “not our problem,” which is technically true, but immensely frustrating.
The city is also responsible for the retail spaces (Ben & Jerry’s and the former nut shop), and they do not care about keeping those spaces presentable.
Between this building and the post office next door, it turns out the city and the federal government are terrible neighbors.
This block is absolutely disgusting. It’s time to get rid of the scaffolding and keep the block clean.
The shed is a gathering point for the homeless, some of whom have been living there for years. Drug users also huddle beneath it. Not only is it ugly, it contributes to crime. There are many of us who are afraid to walk under it after dark. The construction equipment has been sitting abandoned for years. I’ve lived here since the shed first went up and can’t remember the last time I actually saw workers!
Thank you WSR and thank you Shaun Abreu!
2720 Broadway has been a blight on our community for too many years…even well before the scaffolding was erected. I recall a tragic event when a child was killed by an object (bottle?) thrown of an upper floor window, prior to the scaffolding. And the DOB’s 5 year, 8 month designation for the scaffolding’s existence is another outrageous “ loophole” highlighted by this shameful situation, as the evidence is clear that the scaffolding ( with a gap of only days) has existed for over 20 YEARS!
And as for those who’ve cited Ben and Jerry’s in these “comments”, the shop has done its best to keep the area around their storefront clean and safe…a constant and obvious frustration. Only wish that McDonald’s was as diligent in maintaining its frontage.
Just like the city to keep track, but still be wrong about how long these sheds have been up, because they update the start date when a “new” permit is issued.
The shed in the northwest corner of 110th and Broadway is almost just as awful. There are homeless and drug addict encampments under it … why hasn’t this been addressed by the city and elected officials?
Agree completely. I can barely walk my children under that shed to the subway on 110 street on our morning commute to school. Why our sidewalks are allowed to be turned into parking lots for e-bikes is beyond me, and there have been a series of homeless campouts. In front of Westside market across Broadway there is always a panhandler, often aggressive, and often open drug deals. With our insanely high taxes, the city needs to provide better solutions for people who need support and then do more to make the streets more liveable for the rest of us.
Yadda, Yadda, Yadda. We will all be long gone and the shed will remain.
Horrible. I am the owner of befitnyc, and from the gym we can see mice and rats on that scaffolding. We can open only the top windows because of that. The inhabitants of the building dispose their garbage from the windows so that creates an unhealthy situation for all of us. One day I saw a mouse falling on the head of a pedestrian, right from the scaffolding.
We pay a high rent to be on Broadway and we don’t deserve this. I saw a previous comment about other options and they were right, Rome, Paris , London don’t use scaffolding, just make people cross the street while they are working on a building and that’s it. We don’t know how many times we complain about all this, we even had NY1 coming and get the situation on the news. Nothing happened. WHAT IS WRONG!
The shed at 51 W 86 has been up for more than 12 years and scaffolding 4..
One can only wonder that NYC doesn’t implode with the lousy follow-up and follow through of these TOO MANY
AGENCIES! Why is the DOB data ignored rather than ASAP seen to? BAH! HUMBUG!