NYC jail demolition risks damage to adjacent senior center

Senior center damaged by building demolition

A partial stop work order has been issued at 120 Centre Street, which is being razed to build a prison to take in inmates from Rikers Island when it closes. However, residents in a neighboring building say the demolition has damaged their building.

LOWER MANHATTAN - As the city demolishes the former jail in Lower Manhattan on Centre Street, work appears to be causing all sorts of cracks in the neighboring building which houses a senior center, a health clinic, and more.

As FOX 5 toured the building on Tuesday, we saw a variety of cracks all along the wall. It shares with the demolition site.

Existing cracks appeared to expand so quickly that it popped off a crack meter that was mounted on the wall. Other parts of the wall are warping with a section of the cinderblocks bulging in, and another section of cinderblocks pushing out.

The contractor the city has hired for the demolition is Gramercy Group, a Long Island-based company.

The building that’s been damaged, accuses the contractor of using heavy equipment, which they said, was specifically prohibited exactly for this reason.

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The building provided FOX 5 surveillance video showing equipment at the wall that was cracked.

When FOX 5 reached Gramercy Group, they referred us to city hall, which issued us this statement:

"The Department of Buildings responded immediately when the city was made aware of this condition — and we are confident there is no immediate danger or threat to safety. When this construction project started, the building at 96 Baxter Street had some existing damage — when a recent inspection found additional damage with no clear cause, DOB halted some of the construction work right away. We will continue to investigate the cause of the damages, and contractors will make repairs as soon as they are given access to the property."

While the city says it believes there’s no immediate danger, residents pointed out that the demolition has now moved to the other section of a shared wall above, which is 13 stories of housing for senior citizens.

There are over 100 residents' houses there. The oldest one is 108 years old.

Residence and community leaders told FOX 5 the city has misled the public too many times when it comes to how Rikers was close and the loss of trust leaves residents worrying about the stability of their building.