On Monday, a crane was positioned in front of 111 First St. in downtown Jersey City, with construction crews ready to start demolishing the 130-year-old smokestack in the courtyard.
The smokestack has been a part of the building since it was the headquarters of the P. Lorillard Tobacco building decades ago.
The demolition had been ordered by the owner of the 111 First St. building, Lloyd Goldman, who also owns 110 First St. But the artists living and working in the buildings had blocked any efforts by the construction crew to bring the crane through the entrance into the courtyard. Also, it was found that there wasn’t enough room to bring the crane there.According to Councilman Junior Maldonado, who was immediately on the scene, there was a permit issued by the city construction code office because Goldman provided paperwork saying the smokestack was in danger of collapsing.
But Maldonado was skeptical.
“I’m not a structural engineer, but what I saw of the smokestack, it didn’t look like it was coming down,” said Maldonado, who was joined by City Planner Robert Cotter and former Mayor Gerald McCann, now an employee at the Incinerator Authority.
The permit was eventually stayed, and work stopped until paperwork could be provided to the planning department indicating the need to demolish the smokestack.
As this article was going to press, there was scaffolding around the smokestack in anticipation of demolition.
Only the beginning
But the presence of the crane was only one part of the continuing battle of wills between the artists and the owner over the last two years.
Goldman wants to build a 20-story residential building at 110 First St. to replace what’s there, and he’s considering a residential tower in the area where the smokestack at 111 First St. is currently located.
Also, as this article was going to press, building management had filed complaint with the Jersey City Police that a tenant of 111 First St. had allegedly made a threat that the 110 First St. would be burned down, and that scaffolding was apparently stolen from the smokestack area. Investigation is continuing on both matters.
The battle of wills – a prologue
In November, 2001, the landlord subjected the tenants of 111 First St. to a curfew. Tenants were told that they could not be in the building before 6 a.m. or after 10 p.m. on weekdays. This would keep them from living in their artists’ work lofts.
Also, the building was to be open only from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and to be closed on Sundays. But the curfew was rescinded.
Then, in November 2003, rent increases were handed down on studio spaces, ranging from 50 percent to as much 300 percent. At the time, the president of the 111 First St. Tenants Association remarked to the Jersey City Reporter that the increases were the owner’s way to “bully” the city into not going through with plans to designate an eight-block area of downtown Jersey City as the Powerhouse Arts District. The district would be a zone where artist work-live spaces and arts-related retail would be built along with residential housing. The owner of 111 First St. objected to this possible district since it would impede plans to develop buildings that he owns in a way that would guarantee profitability.
The rent increases were eventually staved off due to late mayor Glenn D. Cunningham stepping in and negotiating to postpone any rent increases until the beginning of 2004.
But later, the rent increases went ahead, and the tenants have for most part not paid the increased rent but rather the old rent.
Many have said that they would be glad to comply if the owner offered long-term leases instead of just acknowledging their occupancy on a month-to-month basis. Representatives for the owner have said that tenants would receive long-term lease once the new rents were paid.
The tenants’ actions have prompted efforts by the owner to start sending eviction notices to tenants who owed back rent. But this has been disputed by the tenants, who claimed that notices were not served properly to them.
As a result, a hearing took place on Thursday at State Superior Court in Jersey City where a group of tenants from 111 First St. and representatives for owner Lloyd Goldman came to resolve the issue of the non-payment of rents.
A new headache
There has been another impediment recently for the owner: the area containing the buildings has been designated an area in need of rezoning, as well as a historic district.
First, there was the decision by the city’s Planning Board to approve the designation of the Powerhouse Arts District an “area in need of redevelopment” at a June 15 meeting. This means that the area can be rezoned, possibly for more artists.
This past Wednesday night, there was a vote by the city’s Historic Preservation Commission to landmark the Powerhouse Arts district as a historic district. Both decisions have been seen as impediments to the owners’ plans for the 110 and 111 First St. buildings.
Some of the 111 First St. tenants said that after letters were sent in early July to building owners in the area, informing them of the first Powerhouse Arts District decision, the buildings became much busier with demolition activity.
Battles started Wednesday
It was 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 28, when a crane parked on the Warren Street side of 110 First St. was in the middle of demolition work. A permit had been issued by the city for Ambrosio Construction, a company retained by the building owner, to take steps to stabilize the building.
According to Michelle Berliner, vice president of development for BLDG Management (which operates 110 and 111), it was discovered that the foundation of the building, the brick walls and the floors, had deteriorated to such a degree that measures had to be taken to insure that there wasn’t a complete collapse.
As it turned out, there was work being done by construction workers with loose bricks being removed, especially the parapet, or low wall around the edge of the roof, according to city officials.
Tenants from the 111 First St. building were concerned that this was a pretext for demolishing the building entirely, in lieu of recent decisions by the city’s Planning Board and Historic Preservation Commission that would prevent any permits from being issued for demolition before city officials could determine if the building can be saved. By 3 p.m. Wednesday, City Councilman Junior Maldonado, accompanied by his aide Robin Pinkowitz, were joined by Ray Meyer from the city Building Department, as all three were taken on a tour of the building.
Later, Stephen Gucciardo, chairman of the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission, went on a tour of the building as well.
Those on the tour later said that what they witnessed was a building that, compared to its sister building of 110 First, was in a state of dire neglect. Meyer, whose department issued the permits for work on the 110 First St. building, as well as for demolition work on the smokestack at 111 First St., said that the building’s top two floors would need to be taken down, but it is possible that the rest of the building could be saved.
But what was discovered was that there was insufficient security, as only one Jersey City police officer was on duty. Meyer also said the construction company had to do a better job of making sure that their work was more secure, especially since one side of the building is facing the NJ Transit Light Rail tracks leading from the Newport station. There is the possibility of fines up to $150,000 for any work done improperly.
Bill Rodwell and Nancy Wells, both longtime tenants at 111 First St., lamented what was happening across the street as well as the smokestack in their own building, with Rodwell referring to these happenings as “carnivorous capitalism at work.”
Wednesday night, a special meeting of the city’s Historic Preservation Commission took place at City Hall. There, the activities that occurred earlier in the day were addressed, and the commission met to consider approval of a recommendation for landmark designation of the area referred to as the Proposed Warehouse Historic District, which includes at least 16 buildings, two of which are 110 and 111 First.
The representatives for Lloyd Goldman said the buildings do not meet the criteria for historic landmarking since they are poor condition. They said it would be difficult to bring them up to the guidelines that would need to be followed in a historic district.
But the tenants of 111 First St. brought a structural engineer who said that while there were defects that he discovered on the 111 First St. smokestack, they weren’t serious enough to demolish the structure and can be remedied.
Some members of the commission also questioned why the poor condition would exclude the First Street buildings from being a historic district when homes and old warehouses have benefited from being included in such districts.
All six commissioners voted in the affirmative for the recommendation of the proposed Warehouse Historic District for landmark designation. But that process might not become law until September or even October.
Seven-hour rent hearing Thursday
The next day, there was another battle of wills. It was 11:18 a.m. Thursday, July 29, at State Superior Court in Jersey City. Over 20 tenants of 111 First Street were brought into court by the owner because of the non-payment of rent.
Over a nearly seven-hour period, attorneys for both parties eventually brought about settlements for 12 of the tenants in question.
But nine hearings were scheduled for those cases that could not be resolved, three at a time for each day for a three-day period starting this week on August 3 in Judge Theemling’s chambers.
Jorge Aviles, the attorney for the tenants, said the hearing was over the cases that were a little more complicated. The issues include whether these tenants were served their eviction papers properly and what rights they have as tenants even if they are not residential.
Michelle Berlinger, speaking on behalf of the building’s owner, said that the owner was looking to settle these cases, and that the tenants can hopefully continue to rent in the building.