Emergency officials ordered residents of an unstable three-story Bushwick building to immediately vacate their apartments on Tuesday night. The order came after the fire department requested a stability inspection of the property – located at 494 Wilson Avenue, between Hancock and Weirfield Streets – due to the bulging right rear corner of the building.
Preston Pujol, a 19-year-old resident of the building who moved to New York from Florida last month, said that his landlord called him at work Tuesday night to tell him something was wrong. Pujol had only been living in the building for three days, after he paid $500 in cash for a room. He collected his belongings yesterday, along with the $500. He had been satisfied with his room, which had an air conditioner and a door lock. “I found it on Craigslist,” Pujol said. “It seemed okay.”
According to the Department of Buildings, the owner of the Bushwick property has received fifteen complaints regarding the building in the last three years. Most were due to permit and maintenance violations. All of the violations are still open and listed on the department’s website as “no compliance recorded.”
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