By Gus Saltonstall
One of the Upper West Side’s most imposing sidewalk sheds is no more.
The sidewalk shed and scaffolding came down in full over the past few days at The Astor building at 2139 Broadway, between West 75th and 76th streets.
The 522-foot sidewalk shed covered the entire block on the west side of Broadway, and also wrapped around the corner toward West End Avenue on both streets. It was a “heavy-duty” sidewalk shed, meaning that it had thicker stanchions and roofing than typical equipment, which created the sensation of walking through a tunnel when you were on the block.
Scaffold nets came close to completely encasing the Broadway-facing portion of The Astor’s facade.
There had been a sidewalk shed on the Broadway block for more than 12 years. The shed first swathed the street in June of 2014, before coming halfway down from 2021 through 2023, and then going fully back up, along with the construction netting, in 2024, Google Maps images show.
In February 2026, the Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector for The Astor told the Rag that the work at the building was expected to be completed this June. On October 3, a permit was filed with the city for an “alteration” to a sidewalk shed at the address, which is typical for when scaffolding is about to be removed.
There are no permits as of October 15 that indicate a sidewalk shed is expected to go back up in the near future.
Workers loaded the shed away on Wednesday afternoon.
Here is the difference in how the sidewalk on Broadway, between West 75th and 76th streets, looks without the shed.
There are four commercial spaces on Broadway under the sidewalk shed at The Astor, between West 75th and 76th streets, and three of them are vacant.
Over the years, multiple readers have mentioned the homeless encampments on the block to West Side Rag. On Wednesday, there was no sign of an encampment.
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Oh, yay!!!
awesome, cya ethan
How ironic! I JUST passed under this a day or two ago and wondered when the heck it would finally come down.
As an aside, I wonder what will happen with the homeless people in the encampment that it was protecting. They were actually a well-behaved bunch, and had an actual “leader” of sorts who kept things calm and (mostly) clean.
That’s not irony, it’s coincidence.
This is Ethan.
https://www.westsiderag.com/2021/06/10/ethan-freckles-possessions-removed-from-columbus-avenue-sidewalk-he-explains-his-history-and-intentions
https://www.westsidespirit.com/news/freckles-is-back-unhoused-man-says-broadway-is-my-home-FA5736340
The only thing I have sympathy/empathy for here is the cat.
He seems to have moved a half-block up and is now camped out across from the eyeglass store, closer to the street.
please do NOTHING to help or support this man
agreed!
TWELVE years. Insane and never should’ve been allowed to happen. For now, the homeless man has moved his encampment half a block to Broadway between 76th and 77th, but he will presumably seek out another scaffolding soon enough
Just this first hand. Looks amazing. Hopefully the store fronts can get some tenants.
The homeless sprawl has moved one block north, but I suspect that’s temporary until they find another near-permanent scaffolding structure.
They need to powerwash the sidewalk.
And another full square block shed was just erected 3 blocks north .
The wealthiest most abundant country in the world has people with nothing . Disgraceful.
he’s the definition of a bum. he’s young and in good health and is voluntarily homeless for ideological reasons.
The guy there is voluntarily homeless. He went on some rabbit holes online and decided he’s against the whole having a job and participating in the capitalist economy thing but there is no reason he can’t.
No one is voluntarily homeless. He is mentally ill if he prefers to live on the street. You don’t have to be Sigmund Freud to know any of his political rants about a “capitalist” economy are self-defensive bull. That comment about “in good health” is not including his brain. Plus, he could be dying for all anyone knows. His “ideology” is quite secondary to his reality — degradation, feelings of uselessness, lack of motivation, lack of any sense of self-worth, accepting boredom, squalor, filth, and all of it is the result of some sort of trauma or mental illness. You only get one crack at life. Anyone who chooses to waste away on the sidewalk as time marches on is not in his or her right mind. We have a dope dealer at Columbus Circle who is extremely violent; and there is a lovely man down in Tribeca who is living outside a building he claims to be in litigation with his siblings over. These are smokescreens for some level of insanity.
If you’re referring to the homeless guy, he has a lot.
A lot of what?
A lot of what I’m sure are stolen bicycles for sale.
I will miss the Shed – it provided cover from rain and the sunshine.
Where is freckles going to go?
This is outright cruelty and discrimination against New York’s homeless. We have recklessly come in and stripped the most vulnerable members in our community of their afffordable housing. It’s simply heartless.
NOT! Good riddance!
is this sarcasm?
“Cruelty” is the fake compassion of those defending homeless people’s “right” to continue to live on the streets
The city has a right to shelter law. But hey, feel free to offer your couch.
Finally!!!!! Needs to happen everywhere throughout the city, especially horrific on Madison Avenue above 34th and up to the 50s.
Hopefully some interesting stores move into the space and this area breathes life again. Remember when everyone said the guy outside Victoria Secret would never leave? He did. Somehow he or the city managed to find housing once the scaffolding came down. Scaffolding is a huge problem and it needs to be more closely managed.
That’s an improvement indeed!
The homeless man and his cat have indeed moved a block uptown, and he has more bicycles than ever. Where did he get them and what does he do with them?
FINALLY!!!!
If only the City would move the inspection interval to every 10 years so many of the sheds would no longer shroud our varied and beautiful architecture.
Wait, if this was bad news, there would be a dozen posts blaming Mamdani. They would say that it was a sign of his incompetence.
Here’s a news piece from March on Mamdani’s initiative to take on and take down sheds.
https://youtu.be/3Usq77Ff744?si=7y4ub3rHRoZBiAAB
So, can we give him some flowers on this one? Your city government might just be trying to work for you.
JFC, 12 years!
WSR should publish the age of all of the sheds in the neighborhood.
When are people going to figure out that there is a huge difference between compassion and idiocy?
Would love to see some coverage on how the laws work around this, because the scaffolding everywhere is pretty terrible. Also, the school at Columbus between 76 -77 Street- construction since the pandemic and kids are going to school all the while. Coverage please?
Now where will all the homeless people who lived there go?
The ubiquitous scaffolding and sidewalk sheds are patently anti-retail, as they obscure business signage and block natural light. Businesses deserve major rent reductions, that is if they don’t go out of business first.
The encampment grew over the years. He was not homeless but rather lived on the street under the shed by choice. Various agencies reached out to the person living there but he refused all offers of assistance. Now he has moved over to 2165 Broadway and taken up his new residence there complete with furniture and open food containers.
Again those in the neighbord, and the storeowners will attempt to have him removed because he is feeding the pigeons, causing the appearane of rats and possably spreading disease. Also by spreading all of his things on the sidewalk he is a hazard to the elderly trying to go around him.
Here we go again!
About time … and couldn’t have been fun for the lower level apartments in that building, to be netted and blocked and have no fresh air (effectively) for so long. Can’t imagine what facade work takes 12 years, when whole buildings can be built in less.
Don’t look now but it’s baaack.
Trimmed down version. Takes up about half the space if the old mothership.