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New Exceptions in Construction Shutdown Keep Thousands of NYC Sites Open

The list of 鈥渆ssential鈥� construction projects and permitted work has ballooned sixfold since Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced last month, Department of Buildings data shows.

Some 4,936 job sites are now allowed to be worked on, up from about 800 on April 3, according to the Buildings Department.

Among them: hotels in Manhattan and Brooklyn, a new Queens Target, and, as the Columbia Spectator first reported, the future home of .

The greenlighted projects also include renovation work on rental buildings under an exception for a raising concerns for tenants.

鈥楢 Joke鈥�

Under a of its , the state has expanded 鈥渆ssential鈥� building work beyond primarily infrastructure projects, hospitals and affordable housing.

As long as ground already has been broken, construction now can also proceed on any type of business that鈥檚 allowed to continue in-person operations during the state鈥檚 coronavirus-driven 鈥減ause.鈥�

That broader list includes hotels, restaurants, convenience stores, banks, appliance stores and storage facilities, among other businesses. Public and private school construction is also permitted.

One worker on a Manhattan hotel project fumed, saying his bosses were treating the pandemic like 鈥渁 joke.鈥�

鈥淭o make the hotel essential, they might as well open every job, because that hotel is far from essential,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat hotel is deemed essential while we are deemed expendable.鈥�

The city鈥檚 rules for 鈥渆ssential business鈥� construction appear somewhat narrower than the state鈥檚.

Work on 鈥渆ssential businesses鈥� can proceed only 鈥渋f it pertains to alterations of existing buildings and has been permitted by the department prior to April 15, 2020, .

DOB notes that the vast majority of the 35,000 sites that were ordered shuttered in March are still closed. But some local residents say they鈥檝e been shocked to see work going forward on a wide-ranging set of long-term projects while the pandemic still claims hundreds of lives per day.

鈥楨xploiting Loopholes鈥�

The in Elmhurst, also slated to contain a Starbucks and a Chipotle, will eventually house some type of 鈥渁mbulatory diagnostic treatment or healthcare facilities鈥� above the 23,000-square-foot big box store, city filings show. So the Department of Buildings is allowing construction to continue.

Patricia Chou, a member of the grassroots community group Queens Neighborhoods United, which has long opposed the development, said that while a medical office may be in the offing, the core of the planned facility is still a shopping center.

鈥淥ur primary concerns are that they are endangering workers at the site and exploiting loopholes to complete this project,鈥� she said.

A rendering of the planned Target in ElmhurstCourtesy of Target

The construction work takes up space on 82nd Street and Baxter Street, which are routes to the emergency department entrance of coronavirus-slammed Elmhurst Hospital, Chou noted.

Solo Acts

Renovations also go on at residential buildings, under the exception that allows one-person jobs.

One resident at an Upper East Side rental building said his landlord鈥檚 continued remodeling work on apartments puts his family and other tenants, many of them elderly, at risk for a less-than-pressing reason.

鈥淯nless it鈥檚 a hot water issue or a heating plumbing issue, this is not the time to have any extraneous people in the building,鈥� said the resident, who didn鈥檛 want his name published for fear of retaliation by his landlord.

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Delivery people may not enter the building鈥檚 elevators, but construction workers do. Meanwhile, the building鈥檚 doorman is currently 鈥渇ighting for his life鈥� on a ventilator, the tenant said.

鈥淓very time I take an elevator down to the basement and I run across a construction worker, that鈥檚 a potential interaction that I do not need to be having,鈥� he said.

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