24 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 15, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Deadly fi re at Richmond Hill house
of horrors still being investigated
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
As fi re marshals continue to investigate
Photo by Dean Moses
LIC development site with 3 lots sells for $21.6 million
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @angelamatua
A development site made up of three
lots in Long Island City was recently purchased
for $21,650,000 — or a little more
than $1,000 per square foot.
According to real estate fi rm Cushman
& Wakefi eld, which arranged the sale,
the site at 45-57 Davis St. was purchased
by Th e Vorea Group. Th e company was
founded in 2009 and purchases sites
mostly in northern Brooklyn and western
Queens.
Th e site contains three lots and off ers
108,000 buildable square feet within
multiple zoning districts, which allow
for mixed-use, residential and commercial
development. Th e lot is currently
21,600 square feet. It sits across the
former 5Pointz building and near the
LIRR, the Court Square stop on the 7
line and the 21st Street-Van Alst stop on
the G line.
“Th e purchase presents a tremendous
opportunity to capitalize on the growing
demand for multiple asset classes
in Long Island City,” said Stephen
R. Preuss, the senior managing director
of Cushman & Wakefi eld. “Long
Island City is rapidly emerging into a
sought-aft er New York City neighborhood
with its proximity to Manhattan
and rising residential market.”
Th e Vorea Group is also responsible
for the development of Jackson Square,
a commercial building at 23-20 Jackson
Ave., a two-story industrial warehouse
project at 12-01 44th Ave. and sold a residential
project on 44th Drive in 2014.
Photo via Google Maps
A development site in Long Island City was sold for $21,650,000.
a deadly house fi re in Richmond Hill
last week, the city’s Buildings Department
says that the residence had a history of fl agrant
building code violations, including
illegal conversions.
More than 60 fi refi ghters responded
to a 911 call at 11:02 p.m. on Feb. 8 that
broke out on the second fl oor of a home
on 102nd Street off Jamaica Avenue, Fire
Department sources said.
Aft er putting the fi re out, police said,
fi refi ghters searched the home and found
Ines Parra, 48, unconscious and unresponsive
on the second fl oor. Paramedics
rushed her to Jamaica Hospital, where she
was pronounced dead on arrival.
Parra resided at the home, which
Department of Buildings records noted
had a partial vacate order for numerous
unresolved building code violations,
including an illegal subdivision in the
cellar. A full vacate order was issued on
Feb. 9 aft er fi refi ghters reported structural
instability resulting from fi re damage.
On Friday, a DOB spokesperson told
Th e Courier that the agency fi rst issued
the partial vacate order in 2008 aft er
inspectors found that the cellar had been
illegally converted into an apartment.
Violations were also issued “for illegally
converting the 2-family home into a
3-family home and also for illegal gas,
electrical and plumbing work that was
performed without a permit.”
Th e vacate order only applied to the
cellar, and residents were still allowed to
reside on the fi rst two fl oors of the building.
Moreover, the DOB database identifi ed
37 open and unresolved Environmental
Control Board (ECB) violations dating
back to 2008, with penalties totaling in
excess of $596,000. Th is includes two
open violations for conducting construction
work without a permit. Th ere were
also nine open DOB violations, including
one dating back to 2003, for various issues
including failing to resolve outstanding
ECB violations.
All these violations, however, didn’t
convince the property owner to revert
the house back to code. In fact, according
to the DOB spokesperson, the violations
became even more egregious over time.
“DOB followed up with multiple
inspections of the property. Additional
violations were issued when it was determined
that the building owner was continuing
to allow people to live in the
cellar, in defi ance of the vacate order,”
the spokesperson said. “Each time DOB
found people living in the vacated cellar,
DOB reissued the vacate order, resulting
in additional ECB violations and potential
fi nes levied against the owner, and
off ering those living in the illegal apartments
relocation assistance through the
American Red Cross.”
Th en in 2012, inspectors found that the
legal 2-family residence had been illegally
converted into a 5-family home.
“Additional violations were issued, and
the vacate order was again reissued when
tenants were found to be living illegally in
the vacated cellar,” the DOB spokesperson
noted.
Th e Buildings Department is still
investigating the matter, and the Fire
Department continues its investigation
into what sparked Th ursday’s deadly
blaze.