December 3, 2024
Ms. Julie Freeman
Community Development – Entitlement & Disaster Recovery
NYC Office of Management & Budget
255 Greenwich Street, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10007
Re: Proposed Demolition of the Former Marine Engine Co. 66 Fireboat House
Dear Ms. Freeman:
Former Marine Engine Co. 66 Fireboat House is an important historic structure within the East River Park, listed as eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The City now intends to demolish the building under the East Side Coastal Resiliency project. With the City planning to demolish the other two remaining National Register eligible buildings in the Park, by demolishing the Fireboat House ESCR will have succeeded in erasing all of the Park’s WPA era and maritime history.
As a Consulting Party to the ESCR, on July 2 of this year LESPI issued a letter addressed to you expressing our serious concerns and questions regarding the proposed demolition of the Fireboat House. On November 1 we received the report “Alternatives Analysis for Section 106 Consultation” dated September 30. Unfortunately, this report did not address our concerns, and leaves open the questions and requests our letter outlined regarding the building’s structural conditions.
Structural Issues
The methodology used to analyze the existing condition of the pilings is not clear. The majority of pilings were assessed to be in poor condition, necessitating demolition. However, only a small number of pilings directly under the Fireboat House were accessible for inspection. Given the small sampling, how was this conclusion reached?
We would like to see more information on the condition of the building’s concrete platform.
The COWI report recommends that an engineer be retained to confirm whether or not the building loads can be adequately carried by the substructure; and that further pit tests should be performed to verify that the bulkhead walls are capable of retaining the new cellular concrete fill. Have these inspections occurred? If not, they should be performed and reports on the findings distributed.
We are not convinced that every avenue has been explored for potential structural repair/reinforcement of the building, (e.g. doing a load analysis and installing a few high-capacity pilings to augment the existing pilings, etc.).
Photographs of exterior and interior cracks shown as evidence of above-grade structural damage do not, upon visual review of the photographs, appear to be structurally significant. Did the crack monitors installed evidence active displacement? Is there a monitoring plan in place, and if so what is it?
Alternatives to Demolition
We believe that every effort should be made to retain, restore and re-use the building:
- Restore the building: we recommend, if at all possible, restoring and re-using the building in situ, following the original ESCR scope with the addition of further structural investigation, creative engineering as necessary, and the required structural repairs. As outlined above, at this time we are not at all convinced that the structural conditions warrant demolition. At the least additional inspection and testing should be performed to confirm current structural conditions, the most important of which remain hidden.
- Raise the building in its existing location: This would be the second most desirable option, in our view, next to restoring the building in situ as described above. We question why it’s necessary to floodproof the building if it’s been raised, this should theoretically reduce anticipated costs.
- Move the building to a new site: in our view this would be the third most desirable option. Nevertheless, we are supportive of this option, as recommended by the New York State Historic Preservation Office.
Requested Additional Information
Without the following materials and access, it is not possible for us to fully comment on the City’s stated desire to demolish the Fireboat House. In order for us to complete our Section 106 review, we need the following information, as requested in our July 2 letter to OMB:
– Any surveys, reports, analyses, or other materials related to the building’s condition and proposed courses of action going forward
– Access to the site for our team to perform a structural inspection of the conditions in the field.
– Detailed cost breakdowns for demolition as well as all alternatives.
– Indication on how additional costs will impact the ESCR project construction contingency and overall budget.
The City should be “pulling out all the stops” to save or at least fully understand the structural conditions of this important historic building. To date we have not seen this. Please feel free to call me at 917-405-6224 with any questions. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Richard D. Moses
President
Cc: NY City Councilmember Christopher Marte
Olivia Brazee, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation
Andrea Gordillo, Manhattan Community Board 3
Susan Stetzer, Manhattan Community Board 3
Frampton Tolbert, Historic Districts Council
Charu Chaudhry, Historic Districts Council
Gagandeep Singh, Lower East Side Preservation Initiative
