Pardon Me For Asking: Checking In On The Long Stalled Construction Site At 337 DeGraw Street

The 337 DeGraw Street site in 2010

The construction site in 2011

The construction site as it looks today.

No residential block in Carroll Gardens seems to be undergoing as much change as DeGraw Street between between Court Street and Smith Street. Recently, PMFA checked the progress of some of the projects currently underway or just completed. First, there is the brick townhouse going up at #350, which has been plagued by violations and stop work orders. Then there is the completed modern dark brick townhouse at # 325. Just last week, we wrote about #331, a rather contextual alteration from a two-family to a three-family home.

The most unusual construction project on this block by far is the 'styrofoam house' at #337. Once the site of a one-story garage, permits for a new 4 story, 4 unit building were first approved by the NYC Department of Buildings in 2009. It was only in 2011 that construction fences were erected and construction began.
Progress on the new building has stopped for quite a while now. A full stop work order was issued by DoB in February 2014 and the Borough Commissioner revoked the application "due to contractor withdrawal." At the time, it was noted that only 35% of the work had been completed.
Since then, a partial permit was re-issued in October 2014.

The original architectural firm, Darrin Krumpus of Boro Architects, is still listed on the permit.

The 'styrofoam' blocks that were used to build the structure are actually Insulating Concrete Forms, which, according to Wikipedia is "a system of formwork for reinforced concrete usually made with a rigid thermal insulation that stays in place as a permanent interior and exterior substrate for walls, floors, and roofs."
This construction system is not widely seen here in Carroll Gardens.

It may yet be a while before this new building is completed.

Interestingly, the original house at #337 DeGraw was once the home of John Dwyer "a rough, well known to police" who murdered someone with a billiard cue in a bar on Atlantic Avenue in 1880. Read more about it in this 1880's article from the New York Times Archive.