Make New York Post a Preferred Source “Newly formed cracks’’ at a Chinatown senior complex have sparked demands to halt the city’s construction of a high-rise jail next door — a move that comes just days after the deadly Brooklyn building collapse.
Lower East Side City Councilman Christopher Marte fired off a letter to the Big Apple’s Department of Buildings saying he personally saw the “newly formed cracks” at Chung Pak, a senior-housing complex at 96 Baxter St., and warned they are “a serious concern.
“This is clearly a serious concern and must be addressed immediately,” he wrote.
“I request that DOB issue a stop-work order until these impacts can be assessed and mitigated, and appropriate monitoring can be placed in this area.”
Reports of cracking in Chung Pak’s walls and the rearranging of some of its cinder blocks because of the jail construction date back to at least 2024. But concerns over them have resurfaced after the alleged fresh cracks — and since eight people were killed and another 18 injured when an apartment building in Flatbush collapsed next to an adjacent construction site Wednesday.
Marte urged the city department to issue an immediate stop-work order at 125 White St., the construction site of the jail, because of what he said was the recent evidence of even more cracks at the senior center.
The councilman said the cracks are “directly adjacent” to the jail’s ongoing secant wall construction.
He also said that no vibration or crack monitors have been placed in the area since the demolition contractor left the site.
The DOB did not respond to a Post request for comment Sunday.
Last month, Chinatown residents filed a lawsuit attempting to halt the around-the-clock construction of the jail.
Hardhats’ work on the future high-rise prison has run seven days a week: 18 hours a day on weekdays, from 6 a.m. to midnight, and eight hours a day on weekends, according to the lawsuit.
The suit claims that work schedule more than doubles the construction intensity that the city studied before approving the plans, so it should trigger a new environmental review.
City officials have said the extended hours will shave two years off the timeline for the 16-story megajail and that it could wrap by 2032, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
The new megajail is part of the city’s $16 billion plan to close the city’s infamous Rikers Island and replace it with four borough-based jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx.
Marte has previously joined other locals in calling out the Chinatown project.
In 2024, amid concerns about cracks at the senior center, the DOB said it was “confident there is no immediate danger” but stopped some of the work after an inspection found new damage with no clear cause. The agency noted the building had some existing damage before construction began.
Chung Pak is a 13-story apartment building with 88 units of low-income senior housing. The complex also contains a health clinic and a day care, according to its website.
