The story of this building starts at the point I became aquianted with it in 2011.

The mood in real estate was still pretty lukewarm , especially in prospect heights where a new stadium was threatening to change the fabric of the neighborhood and double its population with 8 tall towers. There was a variety of opinions on what would this would do to Prospect Heights . One of the voices excited about the prospects was a builder named Boaz Gilad. He had been racking up real estate successes with an eye on neighborhoods like Prospect Heights, until the housing market crash reversed his fortunes. Ultimately, he let nearly every project in his pipeline go and used the capital he had to focus on the one unfinished building he was most attached to.

That would be 659 Bergen, where he was planning his dream apartment in the penthouse.

By the way, all this information in verified from THIS NYTimes profile. 

Our building sat unfinished for years, before Boaz with a slimmed down team brought the construction close enough to completion to start showing the units.

By the time I and my future neighbors came around, the building looked great, had passed all but one of its inspections and the brokers were telling everyone they would be ready for closing in a few months. 

After going into contract, a few months passed with still no certificate of Occupancy but we eventually got an email from the broker that all inspections passed and closing dates would be imminent. 

But that was followed up by a disappointing and confusing message from the brokers.  One of the inspections that we supposed past suddenly got reversed. 

As you can imagine, as time ticks by, us buyers were growing more and more restless for answers so finally boaz chimes in with a little insight. 

According to him, every 6 months an unfinished building needs to have gas pressure checked.  During the routine gas inspection they took Issue with a plumbing situation that they had previously signed off on.   Boaz maintains that the plumbing was done correctly and by the books by a licensed plumber and was accurately signed off on. However, the problem was that over the two years the building remained at a stand still, the plumbing code had been updated city-wide. And while it was an inconsequential change it was going to be very costly to undo, and he was trying to get the city to reason with him.  Ultimately, we would fail the same inspection over and over, until a whole year later, we got word that we passed.  We were all over joyed.

Within a few months our little community of owners formed. There were 16 of us, largely becoming friends, and that included the Gilad family, who took residence in the penthouse.   In the first building wide meeting, Boaz explained his position a bit to us, that the years of limbo were hard and stressful for him too, and that he was sorry for the strain on everyone.  We were in our homes, we liked our neighbors, we were happy. And all was forgiven. 

The next 7 years go by too quickly with barely a hiccup.   The neighborhood flourishes and we are even more in love with our homes than ever. Boaz still lives upstairs, and with the exception of 1 unit, our building still houses all the original buyers.  All was wonderful until the email comes.  A city worker, on another routine inspection, had noticed something that didn’t meet code and was shutting off the gas until rectified.

Here  is where it comes out that Boaz never resolved the original issue to bring the boilers up to current code.  Instead he’d worked out some work-around with a city inspector and somehow got a sign off.  The real fix would cost 6 figures, and he was bristling at the idea of paying for it himself.  It technically was no longer his responsibility.   Meanwhile, it was winter and we had no gas.  From here a lot of bickering ensued, and soon lawyers were employed by the building, and after a testy 6 months the tireless three person condo board of 659 had compelled Boaz to cover the costs of upgrading the building to the city’s liking. 

Things unfortunately weren’t smooth from there.   Boaz, who had become one of the biggest builders in Brooklyn over the last few years was losing grip on the company he started.   Funders were pulling out, he was facing bankruptcy again and he begins slow walking the repairs he’d promised.  Plumbers weren’t getting paid, and stopped showing up.  Tensions rise again as repair companies stop returning our phone calls, and Boaz becomes cagey on a timeline to get things going again.   In the time this fight is brewing, most of us had installed water heaters, and added electric powered stove tops, so we were getting by.  We had to, the months were turning to years.    Boaz, now a pariah amongst the weary unit owners, continued to live in this small building with us, making conversation awkwardly in the elevator when necessary. 

While construction progress moved at a snail’s pace, our lives were still in motion.   4B moved to California and sold at a discount. 4D’s renter finally gave up on the crazy electric heating bills and the owner chose to sell.  Below me, 3C was pregnant and couldn’t wait any longer to find that bigger place.   From these sales, 4 lucky (and brave) buyers got no-gas discounts of varying sizes.  You can find these sales in the streateasy history.    

I moved out as well.  For me, my fiancé and I were just ready to pool our resources and get the backyard and two bedroom we needed for the future.  Our plan was to rent our place out until the issues were resolved.  

Our condo board deserves a metal for the work they put in, and having the patience to see it through.

My reflections at the end of this ordeal is firstly, endless gratitude to our owner-run condo board that dealt with the lawyers and contractors for years to get us through this.  I also have gained a nuanced understanding with how murky the building world can be, how callous and unhelpful the city can be.  But in the end I’m not sure if I feel unlucky about anything.  For a few years we relied on a compromised kitchen, high heating bills and an expensive water heater install, and for the most part carried on as normal.  We were all stuck in a life limbo.  Folks in the building who naturally reached their readiness to move on to another home had to wait until the couldn’t wait any longer.  And some people lost money because of it.  My fiancé and I were fortunate enough to be able hold off on selling until our building was back together again.  

The purpose of telling this story in all the gory details isn’t to scare but to calm interested buyers.  In the decade that people have called this apartment building home, we have not experienced a leaky window, malfunctioning appliance, infestation or odd building noise.  Aside from this well intentioned debacle involving an unheeded building code update, life in our units have been basically perfect.  No part of our building was built inefficiently, and no corner was cut out of cheapness or ineptitude.  To stress again, our building has been through a lot, but it is not indicative of anything to come.