A CHRONOLOGY OF STRUGGLE AT 111

Nancy Wells works in her unheated apartment/artist's studio while the walls of adjacent vacant studios are coming down around her, and the hallways fill with plaster dust and exposed electrical wiring from the unsupervised and reckless demolition of her occupied building. Disabled with a broken arm, she is one of the many determined tenant artists resisting the efforts of Jersey City's richest slumlord, New York billionaire real estate speculator Lloyd Goldman, (co-owner of the World Trade Center) to drive them from their studios and demolish the arts center at 111 First Street. They've had to contend with an apparently orchestrated campaign of intimidation and harrassment, including arson, car bashings, and being deprived of heat since Nov.7, 2004.

The 111 First Street Arts Center is located near the waterfront in Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center site. Built in the 1860's, the famous P. Lorillard Tobacco Company, once one of the largest of our nation's tobacco manufacturers, is now the 111 Building, a unique brick architectural treasure.

The 111 First Street Building is owned by NY/NJ property owner Lloyd Goldman. Investors Lloyd Goldman and Joseph Cayre joined with developer Larry Silverstein in buying the World Trade Center 99-year lease for $3.2 billion.

Since 1988, the 111 building has been a mixed-use complex. While the majority of tenants are visual artists, the building's roster also includes musicians, composers, filmmakers, crafts people, custom cabinetmakers, art galleries, art-furniture makers, graphic artists, stained-glass artists and artisans, actors, yoga and therapeutic massage studios. This magnetic cultural community is the product of almost two decades of effort by hundreds of professional artists and small-business owners, whose contribution toward the creation of a positive humanistic and human scale identity for Jersey City is now seriously in jeopardy. It's loss would be a tragedy. The tenants at 111 First Street are struggling to make sure that does not happen.

For 15 years Lloyd Goldman marketed his spaces at the 111 First Street Art Building on the Jersey City Waterfront as artists' studio space. The 24-hour access building became a de facto live/work space, since BLDG Management knew that tenants were living in the building all along but ignored such facts  in order to avoid bringing thebuilding up to code. For the past year, building owner Lloyd Goldman has aggressively been pursuing the eviction of all 111 tenants.

Since November of 2001, Lloyd Goldman and Devon Management, New Gold Equities and BLDG Management (the three names for Lloyd Goldman's Real Estate Company hereafter named BLDG Management) stopped taking new tenants and placed a padlock on the door of every studio made vacant. BLDG Management refused to rent the vacant studios to new tenants, paring down the number of tenants occupying his building over thethree-year time period.

In September, 2003 tenants received their first noticeof rent increases between 50-300%. The increases were rescinded thanks to the late Mayor Glenn Cunningham.

This retraction only lasted until November 2003, when Mayor Cunningham was elected State Senator. Shortly thereafter, the rent increase was reinstated. However, due to legal technicalities, BLDG management didn't allow sufficient time for notices to go out and the rent increases were deemed invalid.

In March 2004, BLDG Management sent out a legallyacceptable notice which made rent increasestechnically valid. Starting from May 1st, 2004 more than 20 people were summoned to appear in court. (The landlord wanted to force tenants out using extraordinarily high rent raises.) Of the tenants called into court, a half dozen had already left and others had a discrepancy about what they owe.

On May 25th, 2004, Mayor Cunningham died of a heart attack. His sudden death caused a major upheaval in the operations of Jersey City government, especially in relation to 111 First Street issues. City Council president, L. Harvey Smith was sworn in as Acting Mayor a few days later.

By the July 1, 2004, BLDG Management returnedall tenants' rent checks- even those who had tried to pay the increased rent and additional security deposit.

Saturday, July 17th, 2004, the demolition of 110 building commenced. A 24-Hour Jersey City Police surveillance team was hired by Lloyd Goldman to "protect" the demolition site from tenants of 111 First Street Art Building. These owner- hired cops have been assigned to patrol our hallways, are stationed in front of the 111 Building and at each side entrance of the building.

Thursday, July 29th, 2004 was the date the first group of tenants was brought into court to pay the new rent increase. Simultaneously, in July 2004, Goldman's demolition crew prepared the 111 Building's smokestack for demolition; with scaffolding up to it's tallest point. The smokestack, located in an interior courtyard of the 111 Building, was a historic landmark and a symbol of Jersey City's history as a vibrant manufacturing center.

Goldman's building plan called for the demolition of the interior 5-story building, flanked by the interior courtyard where the smokestack was located, so he could erect a 6 story garage topped by a 16 story luxury apartment tower.

BLDG Management's crew started demolition of the smokestack on August 6th, 2004. That same day, City Hall fought with Goldman's representatives in court to obtain a temporary restraining order to stop the demolition of the smokestack. It was denied. †As soon as a call could be placed to the demolition crew, they began work to tear the approximately 110 foot tower down. This loss of the historic smokestack shocked tenants and Jersey City Government officials, including Mayor L. Harvey Smith, who was new to the job, and provided a public apology while interviewed on Channel 4 News saying, "We at City Hall have done everything we could to save the smokestack."

That same day, a tenant walking behind a group of politicians and other 111 artists to view the smokestack area was singled out and arrested for trespassing. Not knowing that the area was a protected area with limited access, the tenant was put in handcuffs and quickly taken away by Goldman's hired police. He was detained for several hours and has since made three visits to court; a fourth is scheduled with still no resolution.

On October 1st, 2004, all empty studios (all of which have fireproof metal doors) were boarded up with full sheets of plywood, screwed shut, spray-painted with no trespassing signs. All artwork was ripped off the walls, and "Post No Bills" was spray painted on every wall. That day a team of workers escorted by 4 police cleared the hallways down to the bare walls including the removal of community bulletin boards. These measures, management claimed, were in response to fire inspection violations cited August 30th, 2004. However, Building Management has refused to address more serious violations of egress including evacuation planning.

The arts center at 111 First Street has always played a major role in the annual Jersey City Art Tour, when the artists traditionally open their studios to the public. On October 2nd and 3rd, 2004, during the last annual Jersey City Art Tour, Lloyd Goldman hired Jersey City Police Department off-duty cops for 24-hour surveillance of front and side entrances to monitor comings and goings of tenants. An outside security firm was hired on October 1st, 2004 to be 24-hour-a-day monitors of the front entrance with a sign in sheet that each visitor entering is forced to show photo id and tenants are mandated to write down their studio number. On the Saturday, the first day of the Studio Tour, 4 guards and 4 Jersey City Police Officers hired by Goldman manned the security desk. BLDG Management was there to make sure no one was allowed in to the building besides tenants. Jersey City Officials (Junior Maldonado and Robin Pinkowicz) convinced BLDG Management to allow the public into the building to tour the artists' studios. The tour began at 12 noon, but because of the delays, the first visitors could not enter until 2:30 PM.

Hundreds waited outside in line, for all this time. When the crowd was finally allowed to check in at the security desk, people came in at a trickle. All people without a photo i.d. were turned away. A group of school children with their teacher were denied access because there were "unsafe conditions" inside and children unaccompanied by their parents could not enter.

Many tenants as well as the public, complained about the unfair tactics of setting up a police state at the entry to the Studio Tour. The Studio Tour provides clients for fine art sales and art and cultural services such as woodworking, computer graphics, photography, art consulting as teachers and designers to all the Studio Tour Artists. An artist can meet the bulk of his/her clients for a year's worth of work in that one weekend. Since the studio tour expanded from its inception 14 years ago, this arts weekend has become an important source of revenue for downtown Jersey City with close to 10,000 people from the as far away as California attending the tour each year.

On Sunday October 3rd, 2004, the visitors were denied entry. Around 4 PM, 111 Tenants and the City were able to get a court injunction to open the studios to the public. The public was allowed entry only until 6 PM, after which point only tenants were allowed entry.

On Wednesday, October 6th, 2004 Jersey City Council and Mayor L. Harvey Smith unanimously passed the Landmark Preservation Ordinance creating the Historic Warehouse District , a six-block area set aside only for low-rise warehouse buildings. There are about a dozen historic buildings in that zone, including The Powerhouse, the 110 Building, and the 111 Building. The law protects the historic buildings by mandating that damaged buildings to be historically restored.Now, the 110 Building that Goldman recently demolished has to be rebuilt to the specific guidelines of the zoning laws.

On Wednesday, October 20th, 2004, the Powerhouse Arts District was unanimously passed into law by the City Council with Mayor L. Harvey Smith's approval. It is a detailed urban development plan to include 10% low-income artist housing in each of the historic warehouse buildings in the district.

On November 2nd, 2004, there was an election for a new Jersey City Mayor. The change of administration was a matter of no small concern for all those interested in the Powerhouse Arts District and the future of 111 First Street and its tenants. On November 12th, 2004 Mayor Healy was sworn into office.

An arson fire was set on Sunday night, November 7, 2004, in one of the boarded-up studios on the fifth floor. The fire happened on the eve of our next court appearance when owner, Lloyd Goldman, would present his case to vacate and demolish our building. The arsonist was highly skilled at his work. Sketchy reports indicate that a gas heater was tampered with in order to precipitate an explosion as well as a fire. A wall of the abandoned studio was bowed out by the force of the blast about two feet. The fire was quickly contained by the powerful sprinkler system but when the firemen arrived on the scene, the room was sealed with a sheet of plywood screwed down over the fire door.

The sprinkler system flooded approximately 10 artists' studios (as well as at least 20 vacant studios),destroying their artwork and much of their personal belongings. The sprinkler system was finally turned off, after running for over an hour. Some of the pipes were found to have been tampered with.

The fire department immediately called in Jersey City's Arson Investigation Unit to come assess the crime scene.

The gas line to the building was disconnected because of the arson. However, because the owner never applied for a permit when installing gas lines, the system has to be re-fitted and tested before the gas can be turned back on. This is projected to take several weeks. Until then, there will be no heat.

Since Monday, November 8th, 2004, The 111 First Street Arts Center has had a 24-hour fire watch in place with 10 firemen on duty and fire hoses running through the building. Both firemen and hoses will remain in place until the sprinkler system can be turned back on.

The sprinkler system is scheduled to be tested on this Monday, November 14th, 2004.

The management company, however, is still working on it, and has access to all boarded up studio spaces, exit doors and basement.

The 111 building went to court on Monday, November 8th, 2004 at the request of Lloyd Goldman, who was trying to force an emergency evacuation and condemn the building. The case was heard by Judge Gallipoli, who decided the building was not condemnable and ordered Goldman to fix all the code violations, which included checking and fixing the sprinklers and gas heat system. He decided that the tenancy issues would be put off until December 20th, when the court will start to go through the tenant's individual cases.

Two cars were vandalized early Sunday morning, between 2:30 AM and 6:30 AM, November 14th, 2004, on Warren Street between First Street and Bay Street. Both cars were parked beside the loading dock entrance, which is watched 24-hours a day by the hired police who monitor our comings and goings out the side entrance that is located there. Both of the cars had all their windows smashed in. Both of the cars were owned by tenants of 111 First Street.

It is believed that during preparations for court that BLDG Management obtained a listing of all license plate numbers of tenant vehicles.

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Backhoe Services, a company hired by BLDG Management and responsible for the demolition of 110 across the street and the 111 chimney, has begun taking axes to the walls of vacant studios on the 5th floor of 111.

While they claim that necessary repairs to the building would be prohibitively expensive, we have learned that management paid $6173 to obtain demolition permits for all interior (non-structural) walls, and has agreed to spend $411,500 for their removal. More to follow in future updates...

There is a n environment of constant harassment at 111 First Street Art Building. An arson fire was set in a boarded up studio on Sunday, November 8th, 2004. The fire was contained by the powerful sprinkler system which in turn flooded and destroyed many artists' studios.

The fire is currently under investigation as aggravated arson. To date two employees of BLDG. Management Co. have been arrested for obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation of that arson. Why am I not surprised?

Because the sprinkler system and gas heat system need to be checked before turning them back on, there has been no heat in the studios occupied by approximately 70 live-in artists. It is expected that the sprinkler system will be operational this week, but the heating system hook-up could take much longer. In the meantime, tenants are freezing inside.

On Saturday, November 13th, 2004, two cars parked outside the 111 were vandalized. A third car-bashing occured on the night of Thursday Dec. 9. All the cars were owned by 111 artist / tenants, and were parked adjacent to the building in front of entrances under 24 hour surveillance by the off-duty Jersey City Police officers New Gold Equities has hired as their private rent-a-cops.