A chunk of a West Village building’s brick façade came crashing down outside a popular bakery this month, prompting the city to order the evacuation of the century-old complex.
But nearly a dozen residents told The Post they had “no clue” that they’d been ordered to leave their homes, alleging they were kept in the dark about conditions in the five-story building being deemed “perilous to life.”
“Even if any of us were to be sitting on our fire escape, we could easily be hit by one of the bricks that hasn’t fallen yet,” said Camille Shelton, 23, who lives in one of the seven units at 82 Christopher Street.
The chaos at the century-old building — where residents pay roughly $5,000 per month on for one-bedroom apartments — began on a stormy Aug. 21 night when a section of the 25-square-foot brick façade came crashing to the ground right in front of tourist-favorite bakery Janie’s Cookies.
“We thought it was thunder, and then we thought it was an earthquake,” said 27-year-old resident Mona Sewell. “We ran to the bathroom for safety.”
The city Department of Buildings immediately issued a vacate order for the building, with inspectors finding that other sections of the façade were knocked loose and in danger of collapsing, a spokesperson for the agency said. Violators of the order would be subject to arrest, according to a notice posted outside on the ground floor.
But while city documents show that DOB inspectors verified nobody was still living inside the building the day after the collapse, residents from six of the site’s seven units told The Post they had no idea they were ordered to evacuate.
“We were told it only applied to the ground floor,” said Shelton, adding that she and her neighbors in the building had “no clue” that the city believed the premises were abandoned.
Shelton contended that the loose bricks on the façade could easily be knocked loose by another storm — and could cause a “tragedy” on the bustling block.
An email obtained by The Post showed a representative for the landlord assuring a tenant that the evacuation order applied only to the ground-floor cookie store and that “the building remains safe for residents to occupy.”
Landlord Zach Gindi said he was unaware that his rep, an accountant who collects rent for him in the building, had made such assurances to tenants.
Gindi asserted there was no further risk to the building and said he was actively working with an independent engineer to prove the building was safe to go back inside.
“I’m doing everything I can: all the people in the back are able to come back to their apartments, the [ground floor] store is able to reopen – the only issue is the front,” he said Monday.
The DOB is set to take the landlord to court in October for failure to maintain the building, as well as failure to comply with the evacuation order, records show.
“Issuing a vacate order is always seen as a last resort at DOB, only used when a building poses an immediate life safety threat to occupants,” a spokesperson for the agency said, adding the entire building was still under a partial vacate order due to ongoing safety concerns.
The DOB’s violations could land Gindi up to $35,000 in fines.
But residents contended the measly amount amounted to less than a years’ rent for one tenant and may not be taken seriously.
“We’re just looking for a safe place to live,” Sewell said, “and if we’re paying so much in rent, we want a fair space.”
“A lot of the facades are older than 100 years old in the West Village. That’s part of the charm,” Shelton added. “But it takes the right person to own it and take care of it.”