Borough Park Owner Defied a Stop-Work Order for Six Months
Israel Weinfeld drew a $2,500 stop-work violation in April for an unpermitted third-floor addition. In October, inspectors came back and found the work still going.
The Department of Buildings hit a Borough Park property owner with a full stop-work order in April for building an unpermitted third floor onto a two-story walkup. Inspectors came back on October 8, six months later, and found him still working. The city’s new violation carries a $10,000 fine, four times the $2,500 penalty from the original order.
The property is 1571 45th Street, a small residential building in Borough Park (BIN 3128326, Block 5431, Lot 49). DOB records list the owner as Israel Weinfeld, an individual, not a corporate entity. His violation notices list a mailing address at 1437 50th Street, about five blocks from the job site.
Why it matters
A stop-work order is supposed to end construction the moment it’s posted. For Weinfeld’s site, DOB’s own reinspection shows that didn’t happen. The gap, 175 days by the department’s record, is long enough that the $2,500 original fine worked less as a deterrent than as a line-item cost. The new $10,000 penalty signals DOB is pricing repeat defiance higher, but the project is still active: a DOB NOW filing to convert the building from two stories and three units to three stories and three units remains open, declared cost $980,100.
The numbers
The April 16 violation (ECB #39184821J, Class 1) cited work without a permit: an illegal vertical enlargement adding a third floor to the existing two-story building, plus an altered front facade with triple sliding doors spanning almost the full width of the property. That violation carries a $2,500 penalty, still unpaid, with a hearing set for January 26, 2027.
The October 8 reinspection produced two new violations at the same address. ECB #39207292M (Class 1) cites “unlawfully continued work while on notice of a stop work order,” explicitly referencing the April case, and carries a $10,000 penalty. A companion violation issued the same day, ECB #39207284M, cites failure to comply with the commissioner’s order and a lack of any permit on file as of October 8, carrying a further $2,500 penalty. Both October violations have hearings scheduled for December 16, 2026. None of the three violations show any payment against their balances, putting Weinfeld’s total open ECB exposure at this address at $15,000.
Meanwhile, the underlying construction has not stopped moving through DOB NOW. The main alteration filing (B01452365-I1), submitted September 2, proposes the full conversion and currently sits in “Objections” status. Two supplemental filings have been added since the stop-work order: an October 12 filing for fence work and an October 14 filing for structural work, both awaiting plan examiner assignment.
What’s next
Both December hearings will decide whether the $12,500 in October penalties stand. OATH can add interest if Weinfeld doesn’t contest or resolve them. The open “Objections” status on the main alteration filing means DOB has not cleared the underlying plans, so further unpermitted work would expose the site to a third round of violations. A stop-work order stays in effect until DOB lifts it, which the record does not show happening here.
On the record
Primary record
- Public recordThe October 8 reinspection violation (39207292M) cross-references the original stop-work order by violation number, and the two records, read together, show exactly 175 days between the April 16 stop-work order and the October 8 finding that work continued anyway, with total unpaid ECB penalties across the three linked violations (39184821J, 39207284M, 39207292M) reaching $15,000.View the record on a810-bisweb.nyc.gov
- NYC DOB, ECB Violation Query, 39207292Ma810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/ECBQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=1&allecbin=39207292M
- NYC DOB, ECB Violation Query, 39184821J (original stop-work order)a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/ECBQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=1&allecbin=39184821J