HABITAT
The Hole Story: How a Co-op Turned Basement Disaster into Apartments
Written by Emilie Ruscoe on October 17, 2013
When a first-floor shareholder's floor collapsed into the basement, the board at Chelsea Gardens, a six-story, block-long, 170-unit co-op at 255 West 23rd Street, decided to excavate the filled-in space to raise some much-needed funds. With all of the dirt removed, the basement walls measured 13 feet high — tall enough to meet the legal requirements for occupation — and the co-op would have an additional 5,000 square feet it could either sell to shareholders on the first floor to create duplexes or offer to buyers as new units.
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