Unsafe construction plans threaten to topple East Village building, landlord says: ‘I thought it was falling’

These neighbors are off to a shaky start.

The owner and tenants of an East Village apartment building say errors in their next-door neighbor’s construction plans could send their adjoining 125-year-old landmarked structure crashing down.

Robert Proto, landlord of the 10-unit apartment building at 50 Second Ave. near New York University, told The Post he’ll have no choice but to sue the city Department of Buildings if it gives final approval to the 11-story condo project next door.

“My structural engineer said my building would not withstand it,” Proto explained. “This is a clear example of the DOB putting developers’ interests ahead of tenants’ safety.”

One of Proto’s tenants texted him that they “ran out of the building because I was afraid it would fall” during recent work at the site, he said.

“It’s despicable,’’ he claimed of the alleged lack of proper city oversight.

Chinese developer Gemini Rosemont received the OK from the DOB this past summer to begin digging test pits at its site next door — after being told its first plans were riddled with “multiple code and zoning noncompliance issues.’’

But Proto said even the relatively minor drilling associated with the Sept. 11 dig caused his building to shake “uncontrollably.’’

The drilling dug into a remnant wall at the construction site — a structure that happens to be affixed to Proto’s foundation wall, he said.

Proto said test pits are used to find an existing building’s footings and ensure stability but that the developer’s plans incorrectly identify the landlord’s footings as being in another part of his building.

“[The developer] would have to go in my basement to find my footings, and they never came to me for that,” Proto said.

Worried longtime block resident Holly Glass said, “When the foundation cracks, when they’re digging down probably 1 foot closer than they’re supposed to be or they didn’t tie the building properly, one or all of our buildings are going to be affected.

“It absolutely puts us all in jeopardy,’’ she said.

Gemini Rosemont’s plan to build a condo project at the site at 42 Second Ave. were initially approved — only to later be rescinded in 2023 when the DOB determined the plans didn’t address whether nearby buildings would be stable, The Real Deal reported.

The DOB has since asserted that the developer’s latest plan is in compliance with agency code regulations and safety requirements.

But Proto’s structural engineer strongly disagrees.

The design still poses a “serious risk to the structural safety … and the life safety of its occupants as well as the public,” the engineer wrote in a letter to the DOB last month.

“It would not take more than a small fraction of an inch of movement during excavation to destabilize,” the letter said.

The DOB has yet to respond to the engineer’s concerns, Proto said.

A lawyer for the developer denied Proto’s allegations, asserting the neighboring landlord is “aggressively pressing forward with spurious legal claims in an attempt to extract a financial windfall from Gemini Rosemont.’’

Proto’s “tactics will not be countenanced,’’ the lawyer told The Post in a statement.

As for the DOB, it contends “no unsafe or illegal conditions were observed” Sept. 11 or during a follow-up visit to the site.

The agency added that two store managers in Proto’s building told its inspectors that they were unaware of any shaking.

But a worker at one of the shop’s in Proto’s building shared a different experience with The Post.

“Every time I was at work [that day], the building would be moving and shaking,” said Il Gusto Pizza employee Serxhio Vezcani. “I thought it was falling.”

Proto’s son, a tenant in the building, described the drilling as “like there was an earthquake.”

The landlord said he is especially concerned about further digs affecting his building, as his property sits on loose East Village soil.

The landlord said he hopes he doesn’t fall victim to the same construction issues that prompted tenant evacuations last year in Greenwich Village and Alphabet City.

“It’s not [the developer’s] job to protect me, it’s the DOB’s job,” Proto said.

“And they failed miserably the first time. They shouldn’t be in a position to fail again just to foster [more] construction.”