A Brooklyn Heights building on the verge of collapse was evacuated so an emergency crew could remove the top two floors before they toppled, witnesses said yesterday.
Workers were rushed to 100 Clark St. – which was built in the 1850s – after an anonymous tipster called 311 on Saturday and said the top floors were buckling.
When they arrived, the top of the five-story, red-brick building was protruding 13 inches over Clark Street, prompting an immediate evacuation of the structure’s three occupied apartments.
“It’s been a very, very badly neglected building,” said Frank Folisi, landlord of the building next door.
“Everyone who has owned this building has taken money out of it and not put any money into it. I don’t walk on that side of the street anymore.
“I don’t see how taking out the top two floors will keep the building from deteriorating further. It’s bowing on the ground floor as well.”
In August 2004, 14 families were forced to leave the building after a 10-foot-by-10-foot section of the facade crumbled onto the street.
“Conditions in this premises are imminently perilous to life,” read a sign that was posted at the time.
“It’s very stressful for me,” said tenant Ofer Nevo, 55, who took part in both evacuations.
He said that during the latest trouble, a Department of Buildings employee said, “We’re here to condemn the building. You have to get out.”
Nevo has been trying to negotiate a buyout with the building’s owners, Edward and Andrew Penson.
The Penson brothers – who have fought tenants at other properties over maintenance and rent issues – have been slapped with a violation for failure to maintain the building, authorities said.