‘Like fi ngernails on a blackboard’
Whistling luxury condo tower distresses Cobble Hill residents
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A luxury condo in Cobble
Hill has radiated a shrill whistling
sound for months, disrupting
life in the quiet brownstone
nabe with its piercing
noise, according to locals.
“It’s like fi ngernails on a
blackboard,” said Dorothy Siegel,
who lives a block away from
the hissing tower. “It hurts your
teeth, it’s that kind of sound.”
The 15-story luxury at 347
Henry St. is part of the megadevelopment
atop the former
Long Island College Hospital
campus dubbed River Park,
and developer Fortis Property
Group plans to hawk the
25 apartments at the corner of
Amity Street starting at almost
$1.3 million for a one-bedroom
— but well-heeled potential
buyers could be in for a deafening
surprise, locals say.
“People will be paying for
that building and it ends up being
like a shrieking horror fest.
It sounds like right before the
knife pierces the shower curtain,”
said local Megan McQuillan,
referencing the famous
4 COURIER LIFE, APRIL 2-8, 2021
scene from the 1960s fl ick “Psycho.”
The sound coming off the
building, dubbed 5 River Park,
reverberates for several blocks
— as far north as Joralemon
Street in Brooklyn Heights,
south to Warren Street, and
east to Court Street, according
to residents.
The Cobble Hill Association
raised the issue with Fortis at
the civic group’s monthly construction
task force meetings
with the developer, local electeds,
and city agencies — and
an acoustic engineer hired by
the builder determined that
the sound was coming from
the building’s balcony railings,
which rise for stories above the
low-slung nabe and are exposed
to gusts coming off the Brooklyn
waterfront.
The problem has been going
on since at least December,
according to CHA’s president,
who lives a half-block away and
said the clamor causes restless
nights for him and his family.
“It wakes us up,” said
Ezana Bocresion. “My wife
said it sounds like a witch
howling at night.”
In early March, the developer
zip-tied boards to the
balustrades, but the stopgap
panels soon blew off and were
scattered by the fi rst strong
winds within a day or two, according
to another CHA board
member, who urged the developer
to fi nd a long-term fi x.
“We just want to make sure
that whatever they do is suffi -
cient and permanent and if this
problem persists post-closings
they’re still working on it,”
said CHA’s second vice president
Amanda Sue Nichols.
On Tuesday, a group of local
pols sent letters to state Attorney
General Letitia James and
the city’s Department of Buildings,
asking the two offi ces to
not sign off on a condo offering
plan and a certifi cate of occupancy
— two approvals Fortis
needs before they can sell any
units — until the whistle stops,
according to a local pol.
“If they sell the building to
condo owners then they’ll wash
their hands and walk away,”
said Councilmember Brad
Lander, whose district covers
the area. “Residents of Cobble
Hill have been letting Fortis
know about this for quite some
time and it’s not fi xed. It’s really
loud and quite disturbing
across a surprisingly large geography.”
The Department of Environmental
Protection, the city
agency in charge of mitigating
noise, also plans to send out
inspectors to take noise readings,
according to spokesman
Edward Timbers.
A spokesperson for Fortis
played down the noise as
a routine disturbance of new
structures, but added that the
developer has committed to
fi xing the problem.
A whistling noise coming from the 15-story condo tower at 347 Henry St.
has annoyed Cobble Hill residents for months. Photo by Kevin Duggan
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