Condo Developer Blamed For Cracks In Gowanus Daycare Says He's Being Made Scapegoat

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — A developer blamed for cracks that forced a Gowanus daycare to evacuate this week has hit back, saying the child care's owner let the building fall into disrepair.

Work at the condo being built on Fourth Avenue was ordered stopped Tuesday after fresh cracks appeared in the foundation of Yoko's Daycare next door, which that facilities owner said was caused by the work.

But David Ennis with The Daten Group told Patch that the building which houses Yoko's "is in complete disrepair" and blamed the building owner, who lives above the daycare, for not doing more to take care of his property.

The Department of Buildings issued the stop work order Tuesday at the site on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Prospect Avenue, citing "failure to safeguard persons and property."

That stop work order was partially lifted Thursday. Construction is not allowed within 20 feet of the daycare.

On Tuesday Ahmed Atia, who owns the building next door to the huge development, called the fire department after noticing fresh cracks in his foundation. FDNY evacuated the daycare center and kids were sent home.

Atia has been complaining about the work for months, saying that Titan, the construction company retained by Daten, is "encroaching on my property" and that the construction "is shaking the daycare center."

Ennis, the founder and owner of The Daten Group, told Patch in an email that Ahmed Atia, who owns the building next door to his development, is abusing New York City's 3-1-1 system and wasting taxpayer money by calling the NYPD, FDNY and the Department of Buildings.

"He is afraid of the truth which is, we legally own land that he thought was his," Ennis told Patch. "We tried to work it out with him in a nice way and even offered him money to allow us to protect his building and site during construction. He refuses again. His demands are outlandish."

Atia said it feels like Daten is "picking on me."

"They have a hundred guys on that side, and I’m only by myself with my wife," he told Patch. "And I went to them before I called anybody."

Ennis pointed out the shoddy state of Atia's building in his email to Patch.

"His building is in complete disrepair and we photo-documented it prior to construction for these very reasons," Ennis said. "Now, could we have added crack number 501 to the 500 existing cracks, sure. That is construction. The fact remains that he is not maintaining his building and he is simply pointing out his own state of disrepair and trying to blame us."

Ennis said these tactics have shut down all three of his current NYC construction projects at some point, something that doesn't happen in White Plains or New Jersey.

"Nobody cares about poor little developers getting bullied by DOB," he said. "That doesn’t make such a great story. I beg to differ."

The plot of land on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Prospect Avenue is slated to become a mixed-use apartment tower, with 72 units and retail on the ground floor.

Images via Marc Torrence, Patch Staff