Breaking: Unstable Walls At 2 Fifth Avenue

Some wire reports about 2 Fifth Avenue, the post-war building just north of Washington Square Park (on the west side of Fifth): "10-12 FLOOR WALLS ARE BULGING" and "BRICKS ARE PULLING AWAY FROM THE 17TH AND 18TH FLOORS." Yikes! Apparently the Department of Building was called and authorities are preparing for a possible "minor collapse." And here's some history about the 20-story, 391-unit building—did you know there were originally 11 brownstones on the property—built by William Rhinelander for his family—between Washington Square Park North and 8th Street? When plans for this apartment building were released, there was a "Save Rhinelander" campaign. UPDATE: Now it's an "all hands" situation for a wall collapse. UPDATE 8/8: As commenters mentioned, it was an issue with the facade, not a collapse. The building's board president Adelaide Polsinelli tells us, "There was never any imminent danger of a collapse of any sort. Not one brick fell from the facade and no one was hurt. A small section of the facade appeared to be bulging and management, proactively, notified the proper authorities so that immediate action could prevent the possibility of any danger."

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By Jen Chung in News on August 7, 2009 3:32 PM

Comments [rss]

silver

Slumloard getting his every cent worth while waiting for the democrats to create some "recession home saving program" to buy or subsidize his building and he walks away with a fortune.

Remember a Condo is like a Car, it looses half its value the moment its sold to its first owner from the developer/sponsor.

noreally

Okay, you're just making stuff up, and not even coherently. Anyone who knows anything about real estate, or can read a newspaper, knows that real estate does not lose value like a car. Every bit of factual information shows that, on average, and especially in New York City, the value of real estate increases over time. Yes there are downturns, but your analogy is farcical.

just saying

What wire reports are you referring to? I can't find anything but real estate listings when I google this building.

NannyState

Cheap Post-War crap...

Rocknrope

Maybe instead of having the community patrol the park, they should shore up the buildings themselves.

Collapse yet?

nycviabos

I guess that's why at least one owner in the building decided it was time to lower his asking price. Down $500K to a lean $4.5 Million. Looks like he might have to go a bit lower now.

http://www.trulia.com/property/1052054672-2-5th-Ave-New-York-NY-10011

suepart

excellent comment by jibbly regarding the zero interest and love afforded chinatown, except when talking about the best dim sum, banh mi or whatever is the flavor of the day.

Thespis

And speaking of the price of tea in Chinatown...

JacqueMehoff

I second jibbly's comment.

we must not let this building fall!

ayellen

Anyone else amused by the double-meaning of "Breaking" in this headline?!

virgilstarkwell

no. you're just very easily amused.

jibbly

Oh I get it, when it happens around WSP it's all hands on deck, but in Chinatown? Eeeeeh, let the building crumble...

✈

The 2 Fifth Avenue instability is merely superficial. As a previous poster stated, this is the result of poor or nonexistent repointing. The Chinatown collapse, OTOH, stemmed from inherent, essentially irreparable structural flaws.

virgilstarkwell

jackass.

virgilstarkwell

ed koch lives there... as does, i think, noted photographer steve mccurry.

aprilnyc

Those white bricks are not as sturdy as red brick. They don't age well.

Atomische

From the reports it sounds like the tie-backs have disintegrated rather than the bricks. So they've been neglecting re-pointing the mortar. Not a structural/building collapse danger, just lots of facade falling on people's heads.