Second Gas Leak Reported This Week - 120 W. 15th St.

by meyers | February 20, 2005 at 12:18 pm

1099 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

For the second time this month the New York City Fire
Department was called in to investigate a potential gas leak on W.
15th St. The culprit this time around was the exhaust
system at Armory Place,
The Related Cos.' three-year-old $100 million, 420,000-sq.-ft. residential
building that extends from 14th to 15th streets on the block between Sixth and
Seventh avenues.

New York City's finest was less than forthcoming with
information, but having walked by the building hundreds of times myself it is
not uncommon to smell gas when passing the exhaust vents; my understanding is
that the distinct "natural gas smell" is a byproduct of exhaust
system and not a gas leak - however the odor is so distinct and at times so overwhelming
that I'm surprised we don't have the fire department on our block every day.

The introduction of this building along with the recent
introduction of the West Side Market have had the biggest quality-of-life
impact on this section of West 15th in 10 years.

According
to construction.com, the 13-story building on 14th houses 213 rental
apartments over the McBurney YMCA (which relocated from 23rd Street) which is
connected to a separate building on 15th Street - a seven-story building that steps
down to five stories containing 62 two- and three-bedroom apartments reserved
for the families of New York University faculty.