By Gus Saltonstall
The longstanding and controversial sidewalk shed at the southeast corner of West 104th Street and Broadway is set to come down this June, multiple city agencies confirmed to West Side Rag, including the Department of Buildings and the Department of Homeless Services.
The Rag reached out to the city agencies after Upper West Side elected officials, Councilmember Shaun Abreu and Assemblymember Micah Lasher, penned a letter last week citing the frustrations of the community over the more than decade-old sidewalk shed connected to the city-owned building at 2720 Broadway.
“The City-owned building at 2720 Broadway has, over the course of a decade, come to epitomize government dysfunction in our community,” reads the letter, which was sent to the Department of Buildings and a deputy mayor. “There has been an endless series of setbacks in the timely completion of repairs, and the scaffolding that shrouds the building has given rise to a dystopian hellscape on the sidewalk below.”
As outlined in West Side Rag’s story in May of 2024, 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, a partial work-stop order had halted construction at the address, and the property had received a violation labeling it as a “structurally compromised building.”
Last April, the residents of the Regents Family Residence, a transitional homeless shelter that operates within the building, had to move out following a vacate order from the FDNY. The resident were relocated to shelters across the city.
As of Tuesday, there are still 145 open violations against the building, which is just two less than the total last spring, according to the DOB’s website. Construction has since resumed, though.
At the time of our article in May of 2024, city agencies told West Side Rag that the renovation project and subsequent removal of the more than 12-year-old sidewalk shed would take place around November or December of 2024. That timeline was not met, but those city agencies are now saying it is expected to come down in June.
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My takeaway is the facade work isn’t actually done and hasn’t started. I don’t see a permit for the building on DoB now for anything besides more sidewalk shedding and scaffolding.
For anyone who has worked with these facade projects and the onerous requirements the City puts on them, gives me confidence to bet this shed won’t be down by June.
Maybe our elected representatives will see how dysfunctional the FISP process is for everyone, not just city-owned buildings.
More people die falling onto subway tracks each year, (nearly 100!) than were ever killed by falling bricks, you don’t see the political class calling for the city to erect barriers at enormous public cost. When it’s mostly private owners, it’s a different story, it’s these burdensome costs that are eventually passed onto the renter, make real estate more specialized to manage and difficult to comply with all contributing to less supply, rising rents and the ongoing 50 year housing crisis..
100%!
Like any news of the Metro theatre, I’ll believe when it actually happens. I confidently told people about the Nov/Dec date, and now feel like a dupe. But thanks, Gus and the WSR, for reaching out to these agencies, and for keeping us posted.
When it comes to the Metro, it is very much I’ll believe it when I see it
Even when I see it I might not believe it!
Lizzie, I can say with confidence that it is happening! They have the $$ to purchase the Metro and will be closing soon. Stay tuned!
Staying tuned, already.
Right there with you…like, for years now.
Perfect example of scaffolding completely destroying local
Business, safety and quality of life for those in the directly surrounding community. It’s not a coincidence this corner has become what it has.
Additionally, it’s a great example of a building (city owned) that should be part of a public/private partnership to be made into middle income housing or 50/50 free market and affordable housing. Or dare I say municipal employee housing. The area is over-saturated with supportive housing. Too much of anything is…too much.
Lets hope this really happens, and kudos to Shaun Abreu who has been working for a long time to take down ‘sheds’ like this. He is about the only one on the council who seems to care about quality of life issues in the city.
People need housing that is permanent. With so many violations one would think that this property would be sold to a developer or to someone that could really rehabilitate the complex. No one knows why the city is holding on to it. There are so many other options available. There are non-profits that could buy this building renovated or demolish it and put something else up for needy people. organizations like breaking ground, habitat for humanity, could do a lot with this complex to help meeting people who need housing.
Sorry. Clicked to fast. I’d love to see it developed for municipal workers. Everything can’t be for extremely low income or unhoused. We need middle class housing both for our communities and local business.
How about housing for NYC teachers, police officers, first responders? They work for all of us and can’t afford to live in the city. Ironically a married couple both in the teaching profession make “too much” to qualify for “affordable” housing ironically.
There’s a lot more existing services for low income than there is for the struggling “middle.”
1000%. Anyone know how we can push this?
Great news! Now please do the corner of 74th x Columbus!
I’m grateful for scaffolding in rain, snow, and intense sun. I’d like the city to be covered with a dome. I’m a fourth generation Manhattanite, and I say, why live in a city if you like being outdoors? 😄
You do realize that the shed industry is owned by organized crime?
Had no idea!
I’ve always suspected this! Is it true? That would explain so much!
Maybe the dumpster too on west 104th.
Whatever, if this happens by June, both Lasher and Abreu get my perma-votes
They have nothing to do with it.
Their names are on the letter (see, article)
Please investigate and pressure other scaffolding and fencing on Upper Broadway. These are dirty, dark, dangerous, and destroy the businesses underneath.
And i have a bridge for sale. Nothing ever happens at this building. It should be permanently closed for safety infractions and gutted and reopened as affordable housing.
Gale Brewer was told by the city that the facade work would be done by January 2025, and Sean Abreu’s office was given a date of last November! When I go to BYFITNYC, a tiny gym over McDonalds, where the scaffolding ends, I have only one time seen a workman actually scraping at a brick. Other than that, it is used by pigeons. the gym said that the scaffolding was up when they opened, almost 13 years ago. A true disgrace to the neighborhood.
THANK YOU SHAUN ABREU AND MICAH LASHER!!!
hopefully you don’t jinx this scaffolding down like the rag jinxed the metro theatre reopening on MULTIPLE occasions
Great local repotage as usual. Love me my WSR.