UES Redeemer Church Site Is Dangerous For Workers: Lawsuits

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — There's love thy neighbor, but how about safety for thy worker?

Negligence at the Redeemer Presbyterian Church construction site at 150 East 91st St. — a source of controversy for neighbors who've said the new structure will cost them their sunlight — has left two workers wounded and seeking damages over conditions they call unsafe, court records show.

Both workers were injured — one hospitalized — in falls at the construction site managed by firm Pavarini McGovern, according to court documents and city officials.

The construction site has a partial stop work order in response to work inspectors deemed "contrary" to the approved plans, Buildings department records show.

It has also been issued eight Buildings department violations this year that could total at least $25,000 in Buildings fines, according to city records.

Pavarini McGovern declined to comment, but said in a statement sent by a Redeemer representative, the firm said it put its workers' well-being first.

“We can tell you that Pavarini McGovern is 100% committed to the safety of our job sites, our workers, and the surrounding community at all times," the firm said.

The first worker to take legal action contends he suffered an "injury in a gravity related incident" when he was struck by an improperly hoisted object and fell from a height on April 19, according to a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Civil Court in June.

There are no FDNY or Department of Buildings calls on record at the site on that day, officials told Patch.

The Church and its contractors, the lawsuit contends, "were negligent, reckless and careless in that they violated their duties to persons lawfully" in allowing the construction site to be "in a defective, unsafe and dangerous condition."

An attorney for the church and construction company argued in a court filing that the worker's own conduct was to blame, records show.

The worker should have been able to discover the "alleged defect or condition," and taken action to avoid the injury, the lawyer wrote.

The second worker contends he was hit on the head by a falling object that sent him flying to the ground on June 1, according to a July lawsuit filed in both Bronx and Brooklyn courts.

Medics rushed a person from the Upper East Side site to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center at about 7 a.m. that day, FDNY officials confirm.

Two Buildings department records provide further detail.

The worker was hit by a temporary support device used for first floor re-shoring that had not been inspected for secureness, "creating a fall hazard," one violation reads.

The second violation, issued on July 10, contends Redeemer Presbyterian Church failed to submit a report within three days after the worker was injured, according to records.

The worker, "severely injured, bruised and wounded," contends he has become "sick, sore, lame and disabled," his lawsuit states.

He casts blame on the site managers's "negligent, careless, and reckless manner," court records show.

Lawyers for the defendants have yet to file an answer to the claims.

The Redeemer construction site has received multiple violations and complaints in addition to the ones issued after the June injury, city records show.

Those violations include a concrete blow out on the eighth floor, obstructions on two levels of fire escapes and a missing concrete safety manager during a spill from the seventh floor in May, according to Buildings department records.

Neighbors reported concrete landed on their windows and on the sidewalk, adding insult to what they told Community Board 8 in January was a vitamin D-deficient injury: blocked sunlight.

The proposed building was designed up to the lot-line, which means an old-law tenement air shaft — where the sole windows for two lines of studio and one-bedroom apartments are located — would shrink from 15 feet to three, they said.

Neighbors feared the loss of air and light, but also worried the narrow space would make their fire escape dangerous in an emergency.

According to numerous housing experts and lawyers who spoke with Patch previously, having both a fire escape and an apartment’s only windows in an old-law air shaft is extremely unusual.

Neighbors pleaded for months and pursued legal challenges to preserve a few more feet of light and air for the residents who rely on that airshaft for their only natural light and ventilation.

But ultimately the efforts failed and the as-of-right project went ahead.

"We just simply asked the church to love thy neighbor," said one East 91st Street resident at a January meeting. "And be somewhat compassionate."

Buildings officials said that all of the plans for the site have been reviewed and approved by the city.

Representatives from the church previously said in a spring Community Board 8 meeting that they never fully considered the new structure's impact on their neighbors.

The church spent years finding an adequate location for their "ministry center", a representative previously told Patch, which will stand 170 feet tall and feature a 600-seat sanctuary, a 300-person fellowship hall and up to 17 classrooms.

A church representative described how in the April Community Board 8 meeting that if they were aware of any obligations to provide light and air to their neighbors, they would have easily passed on the site, which the church purchased in August 2020 for $29.5 million.

But since no light and air easement exists — or was offered — there is no legal obligation for the church to consider their neighbors.

Related coverage:

• Neighbors Plead For Mercy From Incoming UES Redeemer Church
• New UES Church Will 'Destroy' People's Homes, Next-Door Landlord Says
• Eye-Catching UES Church Set To Rise On Residential Block: See It
• UES Building To Be Demolished Ahead Of Church Development
• Evangelical Church Seeks To Build 10-Story UES Ministry Center

Have an Upper East Side news tip? Contact reporter Peter Senzamici at peter.senzamici@patch.com.