The Real Deal New York

From the February issue: Want to find out which new buildings in Brooklyn are shoddily built? Check out where the construction complaints are. The rush to build in recently rezoned residential neighborhoods caused such complaints to skyrocket just over 18 percent in 2007 to 21,971. That’s both the largest number of complaints and greatest year-over-year increase for all five boroughs, according to the New York City Department of Buildings. The statistic measures complaints related to active construction sites—the Department of Buildings and other city agencies don’t track complaints about finished apartment buildings—but construction-related filings can be the best indicator of structural problems that new buildings will face several years down the line, government officials said.