very simple

Since I’ve been gone, it appears that they’re done tearing things down, and are now putting walls up on my side of the building. I am beginning to get irrationally fearful that they’re going to build the lower level higher, blocking out my light, but really, there’s nothing I could do at that point but move.

Now that the election is apparently over (and I’m not even arguing at this point, I just found it ironic that today at work my republican, Bush-voting boss was all "what happens if the rest of the provisional ballots in Ohio and Florida are counted and they actually do make a difference? Shouldn’t Kerry wait to concede?"), it’s time to focus on the other New York obsession again, real estate (or, "why people who, in any other part of the country could actually buy a horse-farm, are still waiting for their grandmother to die to get her 800 square foot rent-stabilized apartment")…

The construction site next door is getting a little more press. Apparently, not only does an apartment cost $2.5 million, it’s an additional $3000/month in common charges. I pay significantly less than the common charges alone in rent. Hmm. Then again, you can fit at least 3 of my apartment into 1,800 square feet.

And my dad keeps asking me why I haven’t bought anything yet.

I’d just like to point out that my dad and stepmom recently bought a two bedroom apartment in a landmark building on Central Park West, and even though they bought it from a crazy lady who lived there for 50 years and hadn’t turned on the oven in at least the last 20, and it needs to be completely gut renovated, it’s still going to cost less than a studio next door. And they only broke down and bought an apartment because they realized after two years of living together that my stepmother’s 680 square-foot rent-stabilized apartment that she had lived in alone since 1978 was actually too small for the two of them and their three dogs.

Real Estate is like a disease in this city. But I may take more pictures of the site next door this weekend – I actually haven’t seen it in a month, between the vacation and the working during all daylight hours every day since then.

Nothing much to report this week, except that I’ve created a new category "neighborhood" – I thought it would a good place to keep all of these construction updates I’ve been doing, as well as other random stuff about my neck of the woods. Speaking of which, at this point you can see how far they’re "cutting back" the building next door. Now the only question is whether they’re going to go all the way down to the first floor:

My other goal is to actually drag myself out of bed early enough one morning so that I’m alert enough to grab my camera and catch them on the scaffolding before 8am (I imagine I’ll need to get my watch in the picture too). I’ve seen them out there as early as 7:30, but I’m just so groggy (really not a morning person) that I only think that I should have taken pictures after it’s too late.

I’m thinking about turning this into a regular feature. At the rate they’re going, I’m going to have an unobstructed view of 21st street in about two weeks.

We also got a letter from our management company, with the following message (my comments are in brackets):

[We] would like to take this opportunity to communicate to all the residents affected by the construction… We recognize and agonize over the disruption the construction is causing. After a month [A month??] of negotiations with our legal counsel and the owners…we came to an agreement for the scaffolding in the courtyard. This is the extent to which we have power over the construction project.

Per the agreement, the scaffolding should only be up for 47 days [that would be the entire summer] and work related to the scaffolding is supposed to occur between 8am-5pm [I wish I knew this little fact the last time I called the DEP]. We understand they have been operating before and after these times [really? I hadn’t noticed] and are addressing the matter… Unfortunately, the overall construction to the building will take place over the next 12-14 months [I’m hoping that they’re including the interior "finishing" work in this estimate]…

Hard to imagine now, but the construction will actually benefit [us] when completed. [They] are recessing the walls in the courtyard.., which will allow more sunlight… It will be a nicer view out your window when all is said and done. [I suppose this should allay my fears about them adding 3 more floors to the building].

In the meantime, we plan to enforce the construction times related to the scaffolding. Your continued updates, photos, complaints are welcomed in our office [I guess I’m not the only one who has had a problem].

At the proposed schedule, I will be able to open my window for more than five minutes in a year. Fun.

So this morning, I did manage to take a few pictures of the ongoing construction site that I live in the middle of and wrote about the other day – here we go:

This is the blue tarp of death – it floats around and bangs into my window on a regular basis. When it’s particularly windy, I sometimes think it might bring down the entire side of the building:

This is my limited view – although if you look halfway down in the picture, you’ll see where the wall actually used to come to, and how much they’ve knocked out – I think this may actually work to my benefit, provided they don’t do something really crazy (like use this as a a starting point to add 3 more floors to the building, a recurring nightmare of mine):

On the left here is more scaffolding – at least I don’t live in one of those end apartments – it’s essentially a ladder by which someone could climb into your apartment (it’s in an internal courtyard, so noone can get in unless my doorman is asleep…yeah, I’d be worried). On the right, this is what I see when I look left out the window. Like I said before, I really am close enough to throw things:

Apparently, this is all going to look like this when it’s done (I wonder if they’ll let me in to use the pool).

This is awesome.

And this? not so much.

This building is actually right next door to mine, and yes, I face north. My view (what there was to speak of) was of the roof of the "shorter" part of the building. I’ve been woken up by a steady stream of jackhammers at 7am every morning for the past six months. Which is lovely (and apparently alright – I checked with NYC DEP to make sure). When they don’t tie down their tarps (which is often), they actually smack into my window.

According to the very overwrought yet not very informative website, when it’s done I’ll be able to either spy on the penthouse apartments or watch people go swimming. How fun. I should also point out that I’m close enough to one part of the building to actually throw things in the windows (not that I’d ever do that!). When I’m actually home in the daylight this weekend, maybe I’ll take a few pictures so y’all can compare and contrast.

They’re also apparently using non-union workers, as evidenced by the picketers and giant-inflatable non-union rat that I walk past every single morning on my way to the subway. I have a love/hate relationship with the inflatable rat – there’s just something so mean and in-your-face about it, but kind of gives me the heeby-jeebies. It sometimes appears on the other side of the street (at the other, co-op, construction site on the north side of 21st street), and I’ve seen it in various other places around the city over the past few years (It also spent some time hanging out in front of my old office building, when they started renovating).

Heh. And I thought I was a dork.