Scarano makes peace with his past by hiding it

Back in 2007 scandal-plagued architect Robert Scarano was caught scrubbing his Wikipedia article.

Scarano has been in the news again recently, reinventing himself as a 'green architect' with a net-zero building in Brighton Beach. And coincidentally, two new Wikipedia users have taken an interest in his page (and only his page); information about Scarano's past violations and sanctions has been pushed to the bottom or deleted entirely.

These new Wikipedia users - Erikabogner and Exineb - are the same person -- Erika Bogner, a Brooklyn "creative consultant" and "social media manager". Her list of clients includes (surprise) Scarano.

Ridgewood Theater to house 40 apartments

From WyckoffHeights.org:

The new owner of the shuttered Ridgewood Theater has filed to enlarge and convert the landmark building into mixed commercial and residential occupancy, with ground floor retail and 40 dwelling units. The proposed work, which would roughly double the floor area of the existing building to 44,500 square feet, was oddly filed as a new building application:

Proposed conversion of exist movie theater into mixed use commercial/residential building, including construction of new floors within existing shell & minor vertical enlargement. NB application is filed due to extend of the work, however existing 3 story entry portion & all existing walls & existing foundations at theater portion will remain.

The Times Newsweekly reported last month that the theater had been purchased by Bushburg Properties, a Borough Park company that also owns The Loom and 385 Troutman (a residential conversion under the expanded loft law).

The Architect for the theater conversion is Nataliya Donskoy, a Robert Scarano alum who is not known for contextual alterations.

Robert Scarano: Conservationist?

From Curbed:

A tipster spots the Facebook page for an environmental conservation company called Bright 'n' Green, on which Scarano is identified as a "consulting conservationist." He also spoke recently at the Brooklyn Real Estate Summit. Welcome back, buddy.

Just when you thought Robert Scarano couldn't outdo himself...

He does!



Yes, Robert Scarano has indeed left his mark on Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood. Here's what the site looked like under construction, and here's what it looked like soon after Karl Ehmer closed.


Now the new building is as tall as - if not taller than - the old Oasis movie theater next door. God only knows what will end up moving into that now that CVS moved down the street.

Scarano leaving his mark on Fresh Pond Road

Back in June, we visited the Karl Ehmer site and discovered that it would be converted into a Scarano nightmare. Above is the work in progress. Very contextual...

What's going on at Karl Ehmer?

You may recall that Karl Ehmer left their Fresh Pond Road premises last year. So what's going on there now? The answer is :::::drumroll::::: another Robert Scarano project!

Right now, they're just removing tanks, however.

Soon, they'll no doubt be back at work building something they shouldn't.

Scarano still up to his old tricks

From the Brooklyn Paper:

On Friday, the city blocked Grimaldi’s from moving to its new location next door after the owner apparently tried to install a coal-fired oven under the cover of darkness.

Frank Ciolli was supposed to relocate his famed pie shop this week after losing his lease and setting the stage for an unexpected comeback by 80-year-old pizza king Patsy Grimaldi, the venerable pizzaiolo who will reclaim the ultra-rare coal oven that he sold to Ciolli in 1998.

Ciolli couldn’t be reached for comment, but Marcello Pervido, who owns the new Grimaldi’s location at 1 Front St. assured pie lovers that the joint would open with a dual gas and coal cooker soon.

“Everything was done legitimately,” Pervido said. “It was just a mistake on the part of the architect in filing the papers — that’s all it was.”

But this “mistake” was not the work of a mere “architect,” but the firm of Robert Scarano, the so-called starchitect of the New Brooklyn, who is best known for his modern designs and for being stripped of his right to certify his own plans after a long history of falsifying documents.

Ciolli claimed that he hired Scarano to apply for a construction permit — but Scarano apparently only asked the city to approve the installation of a “pizza oven”; he never mentioned using coal.

Scarano maintains that Ciolli really was installing a gas oven that simply uses coal for flavor.

“Unfortunately, he wasn’t finished and instead of telling everyone, he blamed my firm so we resigned,” Scarano said. “I wish him good luck. … And hope he makes better pizza there.”

Image from Curbed

3 strikes and Scarano's out

From Crains:

A court decision on Tuesday ended controversial Brooklyn-based architect Robert Scarano Jr.'s final attempt to lift a ban barring him from filing documents—including permit applications and construction plans—with the city's Department of Buildings.

The New York State Court of Appeals ruled against Mr. Scarano's motion to appeal the decision that had barred him and in doing so reaffirmed earlier rulings. The court's decision is seen as a victory for the Buildings Department, which has been battling Mr. Scarano over his practices since 2006.

Mr. Scarano could not be reached immediately for comment.

“Today's decision sends a clear message that there are serious consequences for those who flout the law to make a profit. In his attempts to circumvent the City's Building Code and Zoning Resolution, Mr. Scarano showed a disregard for the laws that ensure safety and quality of life for all New Yorkers," said Buildings Department Commissioner Robert LiMandri in a statement. "Since 2008, 26 licensed professionals have lost their filing privileges with the Department.”

Scarano decision upheld by court

From The Real Deal:

A state appeals court today has rejected architect Robert Scarano's appeal of a decision forbidding him from filing any building documents, including permit applications and construction plans, with the Department of Buildings.

"New Yorkers depend on licensed professionals to follow the law and ensure the quality of life of our neighborhoods is protected. Mr. Scarano betrayed that trust, and this decision sends a clear message that there are serious consequences for filing false documents in New York City," DOB Commissioner Robert LiMandri said in a statement.

The initial decision, made in March 2010, followed accusations that Scarano knowingly made false and misleading statements to the DOB on documents relating to buildings at 145 Snediker Avenue, 158 Freeman Street and 1037 Manhattan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in order to have illegal or oversized buildings approved.

"While we find no support for some of the findings of the [Administrative Law Judge,]" the decision says, "we agree that the petitioner's actions in submitting misleading photographs, falsely certifying that all objections had been resolved, and claiming entitlement to extra floor area resulting from a nonexistent community facility are supported by substantial evidence and warrant the finding that DOB can no longer rely on him to submit honest paperwork."

Scarano building gets scalped

From The Brooklyn Paper:

Carroll Gardens is getting a tumor removed.

Work began this week to excise the illegal 40-foot steel structure atop a 19th-century Carroll Street building — derisively nicknamed “Hell House,” for haunting of the neighborhood for half a decade.

The structure was the handiwork of controversial architect Robert Scarano who was hired by builder Isaac Fischman in 2005, but axed in 2008 after the city halted work at the site between Hoyt and Bond streets on the grounds that Scarano falsely claimed that the building was zoned to allow two additional stories.

Work at the site stalled, and outraged residents mobilized, succeeding to sway the city to rezone area to prevent out-of-scale structures.

The addition, dubbed “the tumor” in the local blogosphere, subsequently received a negative prognosis from the city, which ruled that Fischman did not build enough of the structure to make legalize the building under the prior zoning.

Robert Scarano profiled by the Times

From the NY Times:

Some wonder, if what he was doing was so blatantly illegal, why Scarano met with approval for so long. Robert LiMandri, the commissioner of the buildings department, said he had “no information that indicates that there was any sort of corruption” and that no employees were disciplined. Rather, he contended, the department was overwhelmed by a “frenzy” of building activity, and it relied on Scarano’s representations, which were often voluminous and confusing. At the time, the department had no way to punish him for lying. In 2007, though, state legislators, inspired by complaints about scofflaw architects, passed a law that allowed tough sanctions. “We really needed this stick to be able to say to people, look, there are no more cat-and-mouse games,” LiMandri said. The department created a new Special Enforcement Unit, focusing on Scarano as an initial target.

The city brought a new prosecution, a complicated case involving adjoining properties and supposed double counting of zoning rights, but then, in late 2008, a seemingly unambiguous bit of trickery dropped into investigators’ laps. Scarano was seeking a routine approval for a commercial building, which could not be occupied as long as an electrical pole was sitting in the middle of a new driveway. The architect submitted a curious photo of the building: shot from an off-center angle, it gave the appearance that the driveway was no longer obstructed. When the city sent an inspector to the site, he saw the pole hadn’t actually been moved.

Crap piled high in Brooklyn

Yep, it's a Scarano!

Owner gives up on luxury halfway house

From BushwickBK:

Ashley Khan has been hustling 979 Willoughby Avenue as a sober house for the past six months since the building’s owner, Benjamin Glasser, struggled to sell the condominium units for market rate.

Khan withstood heavy pressure from elected officials, Willoughby Avenue-area homeowners, and members of Community Board Four who were none too keen about having a condominium converted into a three-quarter house less than a block from two day-care centers and a senior home run by RBSCC, the community organization founded by Lopez.

On June 4, the city sent inspectors to examine the building following a 311 complaint that the condominium was being "used as a hotel." After a confrontation with Khan, inspectors referred the matter to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement.

"After they sent the Department of Buildings, and the wrath of [Robert] Scarano [the building's architect], I said ‘Fuck it’, I stopped everything," said Khan. "I still have people there, protected by the Disabilities Act. I threw some of them out. I’m getting rid of them slowly. When they have a violation, I evict them. The community doesn’t want them there, so why keep them there?"

The owner is now on Plan D, which is to clear out tenants recovering from drug and alcohol addiction and soon rent the rooms out to "yuppies" at market rate.

"It’s becoming renting residential apartments," said developer Glasser. "It no longer will house any program whatsoever. After I was harassed by the neighborhood, followed around by neighborhood thugs, and my life threatened, I figured it was not a good idea to help people."

From luxury condo to halfway house

From the Daily News:

It was advertised as a luxury condo building that would gentrify the Brooklyn neighborhood. But what opened was a halfway house run by an ex-con.

Now neighbors are up in arms, saying they're the victims of a bait-and-switch that could drag their modest Bushwick block back to the bad old days.

"We're afraid," said Nilagros Lopez, 65, a school health aide who collected hundreds of signatures opposing the project at 979 Willoughby Ave. "We don't know what might happen. We don't know who's in there."

What's especially galling, neighbors say, is that the halfway house is run by a paroled felon who operates with virtually no oversight.

Well so what? It's just more of that vibrant diversity that Bloomberg has brought upon us. Bushwick is next to Queens, the spillover was bound to happen sooner or later. Wait 'til it hits Dutch Kills...

Scarano owners shitting bricks

From NY Magazine:

New Yorkers who’ve bought Scarano apartments—particularly those angling to sell—are grappling with his downfall.

One East Williamsburger who has had her ceiling replastered is fatalistic. “Until the leaks are fixed, I can’t worry about selling this place,” she says. (She and others interviewed for this story requested anonymity for fear of scaring off buyers.) Another North Brooklyn owner says the ductwork in her apartment’s HVAC system doesn’t meet code and adds that the six-story building has no wheelchair access. Others single out “sweaty” windows—possibly a sign of poor insulation—and misrouted cables. Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who represents disgruntled owners at eight Scarano projects, says some clients had bedrooms that didn’t meet city specifications and therefore were called closets. When your two-bedroom abruptly becomes reclassified as a one-bedroom, the resale value will likely be downsized as well.

More amazing Scarano architecture

From Curbed:

Snuggled up against the Manhattan Bridge, 133 Water Street, designed by barred-chitect Robert Scarano, has always been an amusing sight thanks to its too-close-for-comfort terraces. The condo-turned-rental has had plenty of problems in its past, but at least one of them has been solved, kinda. A tipster updates: "Back then, someone astutely pointed out the chimney on the neighboring buiding. Apparently either the tenants were getting suffocated or the FDNY or DOB took issue to the chimney. So they fixed it.

Scarano banned by DOB!

From the NY Times:

Robert M. Scarano Jr., a Brooklyn architect who has long been criticized by community groups for flouting zoning laws, was barred by the Department of Buildings on Wednesday from filing construction plans — threatening, at least temporarily, his ability to work as an architect in the city.

Two other Scarano buildings, at 63 and 69 Stagg Street in Brooklyn, also raised the mezzanine issue.

The order, which applies both to pending applications that Mr. Scarano has before the Buildings Department and to any new ones he might want to file, came after a scathing recommendation by an administrative law judge, who found that he had made numerous false statements about three properties in Brooklyn.

The judge, Joan R. Salzman, accused Mr. Scarano of “deliberately overbuilding” and said some of his filings were “so deceptive that they call to mind out-and-out fraud.”

“False filings lead to chaos,” she wrote. Mr. Scarano, the fourth architect to be barred from submitting documents under a 2007 state law, did not return calls seeking comment. A spokeswoman, Linda Alexander, said in a statement that his company, Scarano Architect PLLC, “is pursing all avenues available to reverse the erroneous rulings that were issued today.”

Mr. Scarano’s lawyer, Raymond T. Mellon, said he would most likely challenge the constitutionality of the 2007 law, which authorizes the city to bar licensed architects.

In the building boom of the last decade, Mr. Scarano emerged as one of Brooklyn’s more prolific and controversial architects, a favored choice of developers looking to capitalize on rising real estate values but the scourge of many community groups, who complained that his buildings dwarfed the structures around them, blocking views and sunlight. Now, city officials have found that they also often dwarfed the plans Mr. Scarano filed to get them built.

Bushwick Scarano building to become halfway house

From the Times Newsweekly:

Apartments in the 8-unit building located at 979 Willoughby Ave., at the corner of Evergreen Avenue, went on the market in 2007 with listed prices as high as $668,000. But the luxury apartments—designed by Scarano Architects and constructed by Vintage Builders—have remained unsold, and rather than seek renters for the apartments, the owners have reportedly contracted to operate a halfway house at the location.

“The wonderful condominium that was built on the corner of our block was turned into a halfway house without our knowledge,” said Evette Villafane, a long time resident of Evergreen Avenue. “We have a day care center next door. We have drug spots in the area. This is the last place we should be putting this kind of facility.”

Villafane believed that the halfway house was being run by an organization called the Gelzer Foundation, which has come under fire in Bedford-Stuyvesant for opening a supportive housing unit at 332 Malcolm X Blvd. without first notifying the community.

It couldn't have happened to a more beautiful building...

Here's what they were saying about it 3 years ago.

Miss Heather visits Purves Street

"Here are some images I took last week. This is the site that yesterday's reader referred to as being on Purves Street. Feel free to use them.


I'm a really big fan of the following one.

Wouldn't YOU like to have a luxury condo overlooking this "added value". If my memory serves me correctly the condo in the background (with the white lattice work) was built by Scarano and won an architecture award."

Miss Heather

Oh yes, I recall!

A sad story from Brooklyn

From Pardon Me For Asking:

No building in Carroll Gardens illustrated the need for a neighborhood down-zoning better than the condo conversion at 333-335 Carroll Street, between Hoyt and Bond Streets. Back in 2005, owner Issac Fischman hired bad boy architect Robert "Mezzanine" Scarano to convert an old brick manufacturing building into a 31 unit condo. As part of the plans, a two story, 40 foot steel addition was erected on top of the old structure.

Alarmed residents asked the NYC Department of Buildings to review the plans, which revealed that Robert Scarano had been more than creative with the floor-air-ratio calculations. The Building's Department confirmed in March 2008, that the architect has lied on the application, claiming that the cellar was a basement. Scarano intended to use the "habitable" basement for parking and had transferred the square footage onto the roof.

The building's owner fired Scarano and the site was slapped with a full stop work order on March 4th 2008. Since that time, the empty building has been dormant. In the meantime, the neighborhood got organized and with the help of the Department of City Planning, was able to down-zone Carroll Gardens, in order to protect this historical neighborhood from out-of-scale developments such as 333-335 Carroll Street.

Unlike the original R6 zoning, the new R6B zoning has a 50 foot height limit. The City Council voted unanimously for the re-zoning on October 28, 2009. It went into effect immediately.

Unbeknown to local residents, the building's owner hired another controversial architect, Karl Fischer, to resolve his building's woes. Fischer, the architect behind the 11 story 'finger' at 100 Luquer street, filed for an amendement, which he self-certified. The record show an audit was accepted on October 16, just days before the new R6B zoning went into effect.

Since this was first reported, the site was hit with a stop work order.