A year ago, the Fire Department was trying to put out the massive ten-alarm blaze at the Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse. It took a day and a half for the FDNY to control the fire. A homeless man, Leszek Kuczera, apparently started the blaze while trying to burn insulation off copper wire, only for him to get off with a plea agreement. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A carbon monoxide incident in Queens, a fatal jumper down in Manhattan, and number of stabbings in the Bronx
• Congratulations to the same-sex couples who are planning civil unions right after midnight tonight in NJ.
• Gowanus Lounge calls Ikea's public attitude about the destruction of historical records from the Todd Shipyard in Red Hook "nothing short of disdain and matter-of-fact dismissal"

Untitled, by Jeanettics. more ›

Remember the big fire in May that burned down the Greenpoint Terminal Market? Leszek Kuczera, the only person charged with setting the fire, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors yesterday that will keep him out of jail. In the agreement Mr. Kuczera, a homeless alcoholic, pled o contest to burglary and criminal mischief charges. He will spend about eight months in an upstate alcohol treatment center and then serve three years' probation. The Post quotes Justice Abraham Gerges as saying "The defendant does need whatever support he can get." more ›

- Continuing her amazing "50 Animals..." series, YCMIU now has "50 Animals DRUNK." more ›

Fans of urban exploration photography and naked women, rejoice, for your day has finally arrived! Naked City Spleen features dozens of pictures of Miru Kim posing in front of various urban ruins, including but not limited to the recently destroyed Greenpoint Terminal Market and the very-soon-to-be-leveled Red Hook Sugar Factory. And lest you think this is just about cheap thrills, Miru has a long essay explaining the project: more ›

Developer Joshua Guttman and his son Jack were are being arraigned on 434 counts of negligence regarding the upkeep of the now-destroyed Greenpoint Terminal Market, as investigators continue to search for the second man involved in the massive fire. The Guttmans purchased the abandoned warehouse last year for an eventual commercial-resiedential development, but they "failed to maintain" the waterfront property. more ›

Joe wrote in to remind us that the massive Greenpoint Terminal Market was one month ago today. He also pointed out this massive gallery of GTM pictures from the intrepid explorers at LTVsquad . Related: lots of people have been taking pictures of the ruins and leftover piles of clothes on the GTM lot. We were down on West Street in Greenpoint yesterday, and the whole block was starting to stink of mold. Yum! more ›

Developer Joshua Guttman was in Brooklyn court yesterday, but not for anything related to the Greenpoint Terminal Market fire or any of the other arson cases at buildings he's owns (he's never been charged with arson). Actually, this case is about a tenant, a basement, and some missing equipment. According to the NY Times, tenant Onias Pacheco had been moving out of a Guttman building, and Guttman agreed to store Pacheco's screening equipment in the basement at 70 Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn. But after sixteen months of attempts, Pachceo sued Guttman for not allowing him access to the building, to the tune of $175,000 ($25K for the equipment, $150K for damages). Guttman's lawyer offered $17,500 to settle, while Pacheco was looking for $100,000... or $40,000 but then he got talked down to $20,000. That is some dealmaking. more ›

Ooh - the NY Times reports that the fire marshals brought in a golden retriever to investigate the Greenpoint Terminal Market's charred remains to see if there were any accelerants used. Apparently Bucca, named after a firefighter lost on September 11, sits when he smells accelerants, but the FDNY did not reveal whether Bucca was doing any sitting. And yesterday, the Daily News reported that site owner Joshua Guttman is already selling various pieces of the remains. For instance, beams are being sold for $1,500 and bricks are also being carted out for 15 cents per lot of ten. The News also says that Guttman yelled at a photographer, "You and the media are making me out to be guilty." Well, not just the media - all the Brooklyn residents who have had run-ins with him, too. more ›

You might recall the post we did last week on Thomas Brodin's pictures from inside the Greenpoint Terminal Market. We had to take that one down, because there were some problems clearing the photo rights, but Thomas and his reps worked really hard to put together a new set that we could share with our readers. These pictures are going to blow you away-- check out the whole set of twelve pictures at Thomas' site. Thomas' reps also sent along some background on the pictures: more ›

It's skateboarders versus the neighborhood as Soho residents and city agencies are eyeing the Greene Street skate shop, Etnies, for its rooftop skate ramp in a historical district. The Landmarks Preservation Commission said, "We received an application from the company, but it was never completed. So the ramp was never approved." Ha - that's totally feeding into the stereotype of irresponsible skaters! Residents have also complained about the noise from the ramp; the Post says that the ramp was "built without protective fencing or construction permits", too! Wow, that is pretty underground. But best of all is Etnies' statement:

"As skateboarders, we are used to this kind of resistance - but it doesn't hold us back! The mini-ramp will continue to be a great investment for etnies in the event the city forces us to remove it. We will donate it directly to New York skateboarders and transport it over to our friends at KCDC [skateboard shop] in Brooklyn who will keep their neighbors awake."

Yesterday we bicycled into Brooklyn with JCN to get some pictures of the rubble left over from the Greenpoint Terminal Market fire. The police still have a few blocks of West Street closed off, but a furniture store in one of the remaining buildings was open for a "fire sale." We walked into the store and out the back, and snapped a bunch of pictures of the ruins. You can see the whole set on Flickr-- but this panorama is the money shot (be sure to check it out large.). It's hard to describe the scale of the destruction, so we're not even going to try-- just take a look. more ›

- And those crazy college kids more ›

The investigationcontinues at the Greenpoint Terminal Market. We thought this quote from a Department of Environmental Protection workerin the Daily News summed it up well: "It looks like an atomic bomb hit it. This looks like a war zone. Everything's totally burned down. Fuhgeddaboudit." One concern is that the buildings will collapse, since the structures have been so devastated by the fire, so the Fire Department is going to start tearing down some buildings. In the Times, Baruch Singer, the unsucessful purchaser of the land, is profiled, and it's not pretty:

"Baruch Singer has a long history of putting tenants at jeopardy," said Jonathan Rosen, a spokesman for Housing Here and Now, a coalition of tenants, housing advocates, labor unions and clergy members. "He has among the worst records of any landlord in the city of complying with the housing code and ensuring that his buildings are safe and habitable." more ›

The Fire Department's arson investigators will be looking for traces of accelerants left at the Greenpoint Terminal Market site, though it's possible much evidence has been destroyed from the 10 alarm fire that lasted almost two days. The real estate dealings behind the warehouse are of natural interest in the investigation, though sources say that the land's owner, Joshua Guttman, is not a suspect. Guttman, who bought the buildings for $25 million in 2001, had sold the property for $420 million last year to Baruch Singer, but the deal is at the heart of a lawsuit. The NY Sun explains that Singer lost his financing before closing, so "Guttman then voided the deal, and seized Mr. Singer's $42 million deposit." Now Singer is suing for his deposit, claiming there was an oral agreement to close six months later, and says that Guttman changed his mind about selling. The NY Times notes that Singers' buildings in the city have been issued "thousands of citations" (we feel like we've seen the word "slumlord" used to describe him). more ›

- The award for best shot of Tom Cruise from his MI3 tour of NYC goes to Joe S. more ›

Firefighters are still working to put out the huge ten-alarm Brooklyn warehouse fire that started yesterday at 5:30AM. Fifteen buildings the Greenpoint Terminal Market were hit by the fire. The Fire Department used eight to nine million gallons of water during their work, and since there was no "immediate threat to life," the fire became a sort of clinic for the department to "plan strategy," according to the NY Times; the FDNY also used the "surround and down" tactic, with tower ladders on the streets and fireboats in the water. Of course, the fire's scale drew comparisons to September 11, especially with the burnt, acrid smell creeping across the Brooklyn and the rest of the city. Fourteen firefighters suffered minor injuries, with no civilians injured. more ›

- And we'll be updating our post on the Greenpoint Terminal Market fire more ›

A five-alarm fire at the abandoned Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse/Market is being fought this morning in dramatic fashion: News choppers show that the FDNY's marine units are at work - the warehouse occupie a 200' by 600' lot along the East River. (WNBC's Vivian Lee, on location, said the fire was making it feel like a 100 degree day even 50 yards away.) Last year, Tien visited the terminal market last year and found a description of it from the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Environmental Impact Study:

The Greenpoint Terminal Market site occupies over three blocks of land along the East River between Greenpoint Avenue and Oak Street. This site, which is largely vacant, includes six industrial buildings ranging in height from one to seven stories, several of which are severely deteriorated. Immediately south of the Greenpoint Terminal Market is a now vacant piece of land formerly occupied by Consolidated Freight, a national freight forwarding company that declared bankruptcy in August 2002.