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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, AUGUST 16, 2020
‘The business is all we have’
Bay Ridge residents rally behind beloved restaurant facing eviction
Firefi ghters at the scene of the building collapse at Court and
Union streets on July 1. Photo by Todd Maisel
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BY JESSICA PARKS
The owners of a beloved
German restaurant in Bay
Ridge are asking for their
community’s help as they attempt
to stave off eviction —
and pay thousands of dollars
in back-rent racked up during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have spent the past
few months attempting to
negotiate with our landlord
but we have been unable
to negotiate anything positive,”
wrote business owner
Fred Urban on a GoFundMe
page for his 13-year-old family
restaurant, Schnitzel
Haus.
Urban and his wife, Amber,
launched the online
fundraiser on July 22 after
months of back-and-forth
with the establishment’s
landlord — and the unexpected
loss of their 26-yearold
son in April.
“The business is all we
have, we wiped out our bank
account already. I wiped out
my 401K to try to keep the
doors open,” said Urban,
who set a goal of $30,000.
“If we were able to get the
$30,000 we are going for, we
would be able to hand the
landlord all the arrears at
one time.”
Since then, do-gooders
have poured close to $10,000
into the campaign as of
Aug. 6 — many of the donations
accompanied by well
wishes to the Urban family,
who have given back to their
community on countless occasions.
“Please help support a
local family business who
have been tirelessly there
for many people in our
community when in need,”
wrote Bay Ridge resident
Thomas Bata. “Freddie and
Amber are one of our neighborhood’s
warmest and generous
hearts in community
service and it’s our turn to
support and give back to
them!”
At the height of the coronavirus
pandemic in March,
the Urban family was recognized
by the New York Post
as “Heroes of the Day” for
their efforts to feed the elderly
and the homeless —
something, Urban said, felt
like instinct.
“I’ve been doing it for
years, so when COVID hit,
I felt bad and thought, let’s
bring them some food,” Urban
told Brooklyn Paper.
But, shortly after, tragedy
struck the Urbans when
their son, Ritchie, died unexpectedly
from a seizure.
“It is unfortunate, you
can always say ‘my life is
going well’ and then in one
fell swoop…” Urban said.
“Ritchie was there for day
one, from the day we opened.
When he turned 21, the fi rst
drink we ever had was in
the restaurant. We did little
mini projects, painting this
and fi xing this. Everything
we did together.”
After such an insurmountable
loss, Urban is
hopeful he will be able to
save his family business —
one, he said, meant so much
to his son — with the help of
his community.
“This is not just a business
that we open that we
could care less if they close,”
Urban said. “It is everything
to me and my family.”
Schnitzel Haus is open
for outdoor dining on weeknights
from 4 pm to 9 pm, and
until 10 pm on Friday. The
German tavern is also open
on Saturdays from noon to 10
pm, and on Sundays from 2
pm and 9 pm.
Schnitzel Haus is located on Bay Ridge’s Fifth Avenue between
73rd and 74th streets. Schnitzel Haus
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
City investigators have
launched a probe into the
Department of Buildings
after a three-story Carroll
Gardens building collapsed
in July — which came after
a decade-and-a-half of violations
and warning signs of
its potential instability.
The implosion of the
building at the corner of
Court and Union streets,
which had housed the Body
Elite Gym, drew ire from
local lawmakers who accused
the owner of engaging
in “illegal construction”
and “willful negligence” —
prompting them to demand
a full investigation into both
the landlord and the city for
their respective handling of
the now-demolished structure.
“This shameful track
record suggests a combination
of willful negligence
and illegal construction
work by the owner, resulting
in a condition that was
potentially deadly for occupants
or neighbors, and extremely
expensive for the
City,” reads a joint letter
addressed to DOI and DOB
bigs from Councilman Brad
Lander, state Sen. Brian Kavanagh,
Assemblymember
Jo Anne Simon, and Rep.
Nydia Velázquez.
Reps with the city’s Department
of Investigation
confi rmed on July 30 that
they had opened up their
inquiry into the building
owner as well as the DOB in
following the collapse, but a
spokesperson declined to go
into specifi cs of the probe.
“This investigation falls
within our standard practices
with regard to construction
accidents” said
agency spokesperson Diane
Struzzi.
The letter from the cadre
of politicians went on to
question whether DOB offi
cials engaged in “aggressive”
enough oversight over
the building’s owner, Ki Hyo
Park — who had shelled out
more than $15,000 in fi nes,
mostly for failing to keep the
building up to code. Park
could not be reached for
comment.
For their part, DOB offi
cials previously told this
paper that the inspectors decided
not to issue a more immediate
emergency declaration,
as those are usually
reserved for buildings that
are visibly about to collapse,
such as burned-out houses
after a fi re.
A spokesman for the
Buildings Department said
they would cooperate with
the ongoing investigation,
claiming that it was common
practice for the DOI to
include their agency when
investigating the owner of a
collapsed building, such as
the Court Street structure.
City investigators probing DOB, building
owner for collapse of Carroll Gardens gym