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More Stop Work Orders, More Violations for Stagg Project

More Stop Work Orders, More Violations for Stagg Project
THIS FUTURE STAGG property (pictured), currently under construction at 3084 Webster Ave. at the corner of East 203rd Street, may have to foot $83,000 in fines for violations filed by the New York City Department of Buildings.
Photo by David Greene

Although the latest stop work order for a troubled building under construction in Norwood has been lifted, unpaid fines levied against the developer are expected to pass $83,000.

The property at 3084 Webster Ave., at the corner of East 203rd Street, an 11-story residence under construction by The Stagg Group, currently has a total of 19 violations, seven which are still pending before an administrative court, according to records by the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB).

The most recent stop work order was issued on Oct. 2, when inspectors found a construction elevator, also known as a hoist, that was not operational at the site. DOB rules mandate that construction elevators must be operational when work is under way. The stop work order prevented any work from being done above 75 feet. The needed elevator repairs were made and construction workers were back at the site on Oct. 5.

The site also had a stop work order issued on Sept. 27, for an illegally erected “supported scaffold.” The outcome of that violation will be determined at a proceeding by the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH).

The DOB issued the fines to Be Bronx Builders, the construction arm of the Stagg Group, which has offices on Pitman Avenue and White Plains Road. Should OATH find the firm guilty, Be Bronx Builders could be hit with more than $83,000 in fines. So far, OATH has not issued the fines. In seven instances, the firm failed to appear before an OATH proceeding,

The latest fine adds on a history of troubles for the building going as far back as April when a crane dropped a load of concrete three floors, causing the project to halt construction for nearly a month. According to building records, fines for that day alone topped $47,000– $25,000 for not having a site safety coordinator on scene, $12,000 for construction debris scattered on the floor at the time of the accident and $10,000 for having caused the accident.

The Stagg Group has led in the number of new buildings popping up in Norwood and Bedford Park. Its signature construction project at the corner of Van Cortlandt Park South and the Grand Concourse, the Mosholu Grand, has not yet started.

Meantime, the Webster Avenue project is now one year behind schedule as the anticipated completion date was planned for late last year, according to a sign posted at the site.

A DOB spokesman told the Norwood News, “Whether you pay the fine or not, we want to make sure at the Department of Buildings that if you are issued a violation… that everything is code compliant and safe and we want to make sure that that violation has been corrected.”

Repeated calls for comment to Be Bronx Builders and The Stagg Group were not immediately returned.

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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