1873 Second Avenue (source: PropertyShark)

The residents of 1873 Second Avenue won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving in the comfort of their own homes this year.
Less than 48 hours before the Metropolitan Transit Authority was supposed to return displaced residents of this 12-unit rental building back to their apartments, the agency reneged on its promise. Residents will spend another four weeks in temporary housing, paid for by the MTA.

The MTA e-mailed notification of the delay to residents at approximately 6:30 p.m. yesterday (see document after the jump). [more]

Residents at 1873 Second Avenue say period leading up to the move out proved difficult

1873 Second Avenue

The displaced residents of 1873 Second Avenue will soon be able to move back into their homes after a nearly two-month relocation forced upon them by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as construction work on the new Second Avenue Subway lin [more]

Residents at 1873 Second Avenue received a temporary relocation notice informing them they will have to be out of their apartments for 30 to 60 days due to construction at the adjacent building of an air vent for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Second Avenue subway project at 1875 Second Avenue. The letter, dated March 19, does not indicate when the residents in the
12-unit Bradford N. Swett Management-managed building between 96th and
97th streets will have to clear out of their apartments, but a
spokesperson for the MTA said it hoped construction would begin some
time next month (click here to see full letter). “This is devastating. I don’t want to move. If I move it would have to be for good and I can’t afford that. I have been in this apartment for 10 years and have always paid my rent and I just can’t believe something like this could happen. I heard about things like this happening in Brooklyn, but never thought it could happen to me. I know your readers are influential and I hope some of them could read this and help us,” a tenant in the building, who asked for anonymity, said. The MTA assures in the letter that it will pay for the cost of relocation, temporary housing and the restoration of their apartments. TRD [more]

Left, a conceptual rendering of the Second Avenue Subway’s ventilation structures from the MTA’s Final Environmental Impact Statement, approved in 2004. Right, the MTA’s current design of the ventilation structure that would neighbor 233 East 69th Street, presented at a community meeting last November.

Residents of an Upper East Side co-op filed a lawsuit last week against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, alleging that the agency unlawfully modified the design of its massive structures that would ventilate the Second Avenue Subway (see the complaint after the jump).

Eight permanent utility structures are planned along a 34-block stretch of Second Avenue as part of the first phase of the under-construction subway. Under the most current design, some would be as large as mid-sized apartment buildings, up to 10 stories tall. The facades would be a utilitarian mix of translucent white glass, steel louvers and ceramic tile.

The co-op tower filing the lawsuit, 233 East 69th Street, would neighbor the largest planned structure, slated to cover the entire footprint of two lots currently occupied by five-story brick apartment buildings built around the turn of last century. Once the structure is built, eight co-ops would have their easterly facing windows entirely bricked up.

When the MTA presented its renderings of the utility structures at a community board meeting last November, it was difficult to restore order, said Mark Legere, a resident of the 69th Street co-op. “There was just a complete, like a cacophony, of ‘Oh my God, not that!’ sounds.” [more]

Renderings of the utility structure planned for outside the 96th Street station of the under-construction Second Avenue subway

From the December issue: Those sticky summers languishing on the platform will be obsolete for future riders of the Second Avenue subway. Unlike most city subway stations, where air is sucked through sidewalk grates by passing trains, the new stations will be chilled by a modern ventilation system.

But much to the dismay of some Upper East Siders, that ventilation system will be housed in permanent aboveground utility structures situated at each end of the stations, many as large as midsize apartment buildings, rising up to nine stories tall.

As part of its first phase of Second Avenue subway construction, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is planning eight of these structures along a 34-block stretch of the Upper East Side. [more]

As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority moves forward with plans for the long-delayed Second Avenue subway line, there is one crucial task that remains: finding new homes for the residents it will soon displace. The new subway line, set to open in 2017, requires the relocation of dozens of residents between 59th and 96th streets. But several residents told the New York Times that the assistance the MTA has offered leaves much to be desired. Some of the residents said that they live in rent-stabilized apartments, so finding a comparable unit is a challenge. Others allege that the MTA has tried to push them out of the neighborhood — a claim that MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz denied, saying that his agency has simply presented other neighborhoods as options. “We’re doing our due diligence,” Ortiz said. “We’re not in any way, shape or form saying you have to do this, you have to move there.”