The demolition of an iconic Manhattan steam plant that served as the filming location for several Marvel streaming series has been halted because the city violated its own asbestos rules.
Work on the 87-year-old, city-owned Roosevelt Island steam plant — set to be razed under a plan managed by the city Housing and Preservation Department — was halted after an inspection by Big Apple environmental authorities earlier this month, according to agency records.
The Department of Environmental Protection inspectors noted in their June 12 report that the asbestos abatement work being done by the city is in violation of its own asbestos rules and “poses a threat to human safety.”
Work can’t resume until the DEP approves a plan “that addresses all disturbed asbestos containing materials” at the site, the order said.
A Post request for comment from the DEP was referred to the HPD.
“This is part of a routine interagency process for identifying any hazards and additional work that should be covered throughout the project,” an HPD rep told The Post, adding that additional samples were taken on Monday and are being sent to a lab for asbestos testing.
“HPD and its partner agencies will continue to execute on this process to ensure that the project meets our top priority of keeping the residents of Roosevelt Island safe,” the representative said.
But some Roosevelt Island residents are calling for further transparency and record-sharing when it comes to the controversial demolition project.
“The city’s own agency found this work poses a threat to human safety — and we learned about it only because it came up at a meeting,” said Kalin Kresnitchki, co-founder of the Architectural Community Alliance of Roosevelt Island advocacy group.
“The [stop work] order is posted inside the fence, where no resident can see it,” she said. “What else don’t we know?”
Asbestos abatement at the site — which has been featured in ABC’s TV show “Gotham” and Marvel’s streaming series “The Punisher” and “Luke Cage” — is expected to continue until the fall, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The demolition start date is still months away, the source added.
Residents have complained for months that the decrepit 1930s-built steam plant — which was decommissioned in 2014 and has been slated for emergency demolition in 2024 because of the “deteriorated masonry” along its smokestacks — “very likely” contains toxins such as lead paint, asbestos, mercury and fuel oil No. 6, given its past industrial use.
But the site’s emergency designation allows the city to bypass traditional environmental review procedures – and officials have refused to provide air monitoring in the surrounding community before demolition or even release an environmental review, The Post previously reported.
Hundreds of locals and elected officials have since campaigned city authorities to release a structural assessment, comprehensive environmental study and hazardous materials remediation plan for the site.
“The city says the facility is structurally unsound with a pair of smokestacks at risk of collapsing, but it has yet to produce a single official report or document to support its assertion as requested by residents,” ArchRI said in a statement.
Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal has voiced support for the community’s fact-finding efforts, noting at an April community board meeting that his office is advocating for an “independent air quality monitoring and public release of structural reports.”
Meanwhile, the state and city is eying a “possible redevelopment” of the defunct steam plant site, which is on land leased to New York state, according to a press release issued by the governor’s office last year.
Third-party asbestos air monitoring has been ongoing since abatement work began, and testing thus far has shown no evidence of airborne asbestos, an HPD rep said.
But only asbestos — not lead, PCBs, or combustion residues — is being tracked in this phase, advocates pointed out.
Community air monitoring in the surrounding area will only start during actual demolition – even though debris such as soil and asbestos is already being trucked through Roosevelt Island’s main thoroughfare, ArchRI noted.
“Air monitoring is only taking place within the structure to protect workers, a necessary step that nonetheless fails to protect residents from airborne transmission outside of the steam plant,” ArchRI reps said.
