Results tagged “joshuaguttman”

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.

A pair of homeless man have been arrested for starting the fire that caused the NYC's biggest blaze (this side of the World Trade Center). Leszek Kuczera, a 59 year old Polish immigrant, and another as-yet unapprehended homeless man were attempting to burn the insulation off copper wire by setting eight tires on fire, but the fire got out of control. Kuczera was arrested and charged with arson, buglary, reckless endangerment and petty larceny; he told fire marshals he did not mean for the fire to burn down the warehouse.

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.

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.

- And those crazy college kids

- The holdout juror that caused the San Diego college student's terror trial to be a mistrial compared his situation to that of 12 Angry Men

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."

Continue reading "FDNY to Tear Down What's Left at Brooklyn Warehouse"

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).

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.