Long suffering residents at a Pelham Parkway apartment complex are STILL yelling “Tear down that scaffold!”
They’ve been waiting for almost five years to see the elevated platforms lining the complex’s perimeter removed.
Dark green construction platforms have cast much of the sidewalk surrounding five buildings at 2100-2110 Bronx Park East in shadow for years now.
Yet, tenants complain, no construction has taken place.
“Restaurants won’t even deliver here: it’s that dark and dangerous,” said Elaine Feder, a life-long resident there and president of the Pelham Parkway Neighborhood Association.
The property owner, Park Associates LLC, and manager, S.W. Management, which is operated by real estate mogul Stanley Wasserman, claim that the scaffolds cannot be taken down until repairs to the building’s façade are completed.
Property owners were slammed with a $10,000 fine in August 2012 for failing to maintain the façade, according to city Department of Building records.
Management apologized for the delay in a letter sent to tenants last January, following the Bronx Times Reporter’s original report on the pesky scaffolds.
“Our architect and construction team are actively working with City agencies to secure approvals and begin the repairs,” the company said in the letter.
Nearly a year later, that repair work is finally about to begin. Management plans to renovate the roof first, working through the winter, said Jamie Van Bramer, a spokesman for the building’s owners. After the roof is finished, construction will kick off on the parapet and other exterior portions of the facade. In the meantime, management has replanked the scaffolding on the “sidewalk sheds” —which have been known to collect pigeon dung.
On Dec. 2, the Department of Buildings signed off on architect drawings and repair plans. Earlier in the year, on Jan. 14, the city agency approved the installation of protective netting on the complex.
Residents could not see the platforms removed soon enough, said Feder, 68, who has lived in the complex, since she was a little kid.
“It used to be a nice place to live,” she said. “Now, as soon I get home every night I call my friend just to report that I’m okay —that’s how scary it is.
