By Gus Saltonstall
The new Silver Moon Bakery BUTTERCUP storefront opened in July.
Two months later, a sidewalk shed is in the process of going up in front of it.
The construction equipment began being erected in recent weeks at 2664 Broadway, between West 101st and 102nd streets.
“I am so grateful to our customers and friends, who have not been deterred by the scaffolding,” Judith Norell, the longtime owner of Silver Moon Bakery, wrote to West Side Rag in an email. “It does make sitting outside difficult, but I certainly understand that bricks need to be pointed and buildings maintained.”
“I just hope it is done in a timely manner, unlike the scaffolding on 105-104th streets and Broadway,” she added.
The outdoor dining seats are still available in front of the business, but the chairs now compete with metal poles.
West Side Rag found that the new sidewalk shed at the address appears connected to three permits filed with the city during the last week of August for 215 West 101st Street, which is a residential building on the corner of the block.
The new sidewalk shed covers multiple buildings near the corner of West 101st Street and Broadway, including the new Silver Moon Bakery BUTTERCUP shop.
Those three work permits filed in the final days of August for 215 West 101st Street, include:
- Installation of 300 square-foot sidewalk shed.
- Installation of lighting for sidewalk shed.
- Installation of outrigger for facade repairs.
This specific corner is not unaccustomed to sidewalk sheds.
Google Maps imagery shows there was a sidewalk shed on the corner of West 101st Street and Broadway from around 2021 to 2023, before it came down sometime last year.
The Rag will keep an eye out for any developments related to the new sidewalk shed moving forward.
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The prior business, Broadway Restaurant, had a kitchen fire in 2021 and the shed went up right after that for two years.
Hard to believe that it needs yet another shed and you can bet it will be another two years, sadly…
Sheds go up roughly every five years for facade work per city requirements.
They just took DOWN the shed that surrounded that building. Annoying!
I’m sure it will be done in a timely manner har har. In front of my own building, it was up for 4 years before they finally took it down…only to put it right back up a month later. It’s now almost 5 yrs later with not a second of work being done as the wood on top rots away. The city needs to once and for all establish a hard deadline of two years to finish…every week overdue and you get a huge fine. And 10 yrs need to pass before putting it up again. Enough of this ugliness plaguing our city!
Local Law 11 requires all buildings greater than six stories have their façades inspected every five years.
https://fontanarchitecture.com/what-is-local-law-11
This is one of the more egregious of the mafia “regulations” in NYC. Inspections can be done in a matter of hours with a drone. When actual work is required, every day where scaffolding is erected and not used should result in a penalty to the owner of the scaffold and a property tax rebate to the affected building. The loss in public safety and hygeine due to ever-present scaffolding far outweighs any tiny increase in safety from loose materials that may get caught when the inspectors get around to doing their jobs.
There are literally dozens of reasons — most of them due to city regulations — that delay this work. The other reasons stem from material shortages, skilled labor shortages, funding needs, etc.
Everyone knows the process is broken, but no one wants to keep sheds up.
Well, there is also the fact that even though the sheds are costly, it is cheaper for the building owners to keep the sheds up than to actually do the repair work.
What a way to kill a new business. These business are toast for the next few years.
Sidewalk sheds are grossly overrated. Just ask why other cities don’t have our same problem ? I cant believe we just have to accept this dumb solution from an ill conceived law 50 years ago
Are you not aware that in Paris, London, Sydney, and many other cities without our scaffolding requirements deal with thousands of deaths every year from crumbling facades?
We can and should try to change it. Scaffolding around this city has just gotten insane. It’s everywhere all the time.
Local Law 11 saves lives.
It is a Local Law, if you don’t like it vote differently.
Prove your claim. In the many decades prior to this dumb law, how many people died? In cities all over the world that don’t have this dumb law, how many people die?
“It saves lives” is the mushy-brained response to any ridiculous overreach where the same goal could be accomplished more intelligently with just a modicum of thought.
Vote for better candidates then and change the law.
This is literally deranged. As the piece notes, this exact area was shedded for 2 years ending just a few months ago. I’m not sure that the Vatican’s brickwork is better maintained than that of 215 W 101st St.
well, the bright side might be that winter is upon us and it provides a covered area to line up or have outdoor seating in protected from the elements. Still a shame.
The rules for making repairs are onerous, especially in Landmarked districts. Facade inspections should be every 10 years, not ever five. Repairs need to make the facade safe – but not require the use of obsolete materials such as terra cotta, vs. cast stone which is far faster and less expensive to obtain.
Does anyone truly believe that living in a neighborhood that looks like a permanent, garbage-strewn, sun-deprived construction zone is the only possible outcome if safety is the goal? The solution is as destructive as the problem.
Scaffolding is a major scourge on our city and advocacy has not been vigorous enough to stop it. We should consider every ten years instead of five for inspections. (I suspect more workers die from falling than people getting killed from a falling stone,) Regulation changes by our elected officials simply to not go far enough to make a significant difference. Scaffolding was up at the church next to us on West 71st for 9 years! At La Guardia High School I heard scaffolding was up for the entire four year high school experience for some kids! With scaffolding comes crime and trash and a visual and psychological cloud on our city. Extreme measures are needed including new regs that will be enforced with fines actually collected and a change to every ten years for inspections. New Yorkers should not have to tolerate such ugly and oppressive conditions for many years.
It’s absolutely affecting tourism. No one wants to come visit a city imprisoned by scaffolding.
The ridiculous law needs to be eliminated and not replaced. It accomplishes nothing but making mobbed-up businesses rich.
What I do not understand is why buildings on Fifth, Madison and Park Avenues do not have the same sheds going up as frequently as the UWS sheds?
That is a great question!
I wish our local politicians would stop tilting at windmills and solve the scaffold problem once and for all. The recently passed legislation in this regard has more holes than Swiss Cheese. W. 57th between 8th and 9th is a scaffold horror show. Even the south side of 5th ave from 57th to 50th St is completely covered in scaffolding. This has to end NOW!
Like they’ve been talking about lowering the volume of ambulances for twenty years. All talk and no action.
I asked a contractor once why the scaffolding was going back up when it was just taken down. He said a different contractor is replacing them so they remove their scaffolding and the new contractor puts up their scaffolding. I wonder why that happens so often? Also, what’s the difference in the wooden scaffolding and the white metal ones?
Though the sun will not shine on the Moon tables, the chillier seasons could actually be enhanced with infrared heaters, and even now with over head lights!
Bad enough having to walk under scaffolding but beware! Wear a helmet & hazmat suit if you sit/eat under it. Pigeons roost inside them & this summer I had the awful experience of pigeon droppings landing on my head & bare shoulder.
Disgusting.
I so wish “scaffolding” was a publicly traded stock so that I could have invested in it 20 years ago and been a wealthy person today, getting ever wealthier now… 🤨
Local law 11 mandates, as far as I understand, facade audits and repair to happen every 5 years. The ridiculous part of the law, though, is that it’s every 5 years from the *start* of the work, not the end. It seems like such a scam to have the law structured like that, no? Check out the scaffolding episode on HBO’s “How To With John Wilson” — very funny and educational!
Installation of 300 square-foot sidewalk shed. Installation of lighting for sidewalk shed? WHAT does that mean? Where?
Has anyone tried the bakery yet? How is it?
Sheds are horrible but the more attractive white sheds are made by only one company, Urban Umbrella in Brooklyn. Unfortunately they are much more expensive that the regular sheds.
Hope the work is done quickly? Ha ha. How about never? Up for more than two years with zero work in sight, the shed at 24 West 88th is apparently permanent.