General Contractor
in Boerum Hill, NY

All residential renovation work in Boerum Hill requiring structural, plumbing, electrical, or HVAC modifications must be filed with the NYC Department of Buildings through a DOB-registered architect or engineer. The Boerum Hill Historic District (LPC, 1973) requires a Certificate of Appropriateness for all exterior alterations visible from a public way. A particular permit complexity in Boerum Hill is the neighborhood's DOB BIS record: many brownstones on the primary residential blocks were converted from single-family to rooming house or SRO occupancy in the mid-20th century and reconverted to single-family in the 1980s and 1990s — creating CO amendment histories with open violations and prior alteration permits that must be fully researched before any new filing is prepared. Any work affecting party walls shared with adjacent rowhouses requires a structural engineering assessment and may require formal notification to adjoining owners under New York State law. JMR manages the DOB BIS research, CO classification review, open violation assessment, and LPC coordination as standard pre-construction work for every Boerum Hill project.

The Boerum Hill Historic District (LPC, 1973) covers the Italianate and Neo-Grec brownstone rowhouse blocks of Pacific Street, Dean Street, Bergen Street, and adjacent streets between Court Street and 4th Avenue. Within the district, a Certificate of Appropriateness is required for all exterior alterations visible from a public way. Boerum Hill's brownstones are a somewhat more heterogeneous mix than the concentrated Romanesque Revival blocks of Park Slope, including Federal-era rowhouses on some blocks alongside the more typical 1860s–1880s Italianate and Neo-Grec buildings — and the LPC's character guidelines address this variety of period types. JMR prepares CofA applications and coordinates with LPC for all exterior alterations within the Boerum Hill Historic District.

Many Boerum Hill brownstones carry a DOB Building Information System record reflecting the neighborhood's mid-20th-century period of disinvestment — when single-family rowhouses were converted to rooming house or SRO occupancy — and the subsequent reconversion to single-family use in the 1970s through 1990s. This history creates a permit and CO amendment record that must be fully researched before any new DOB filing is prepared. Common findings include: open violations from the conversion or reconversion period that are no longer visible in the finished building but remain on record and must be resolved in the new filing; CO classifications that may not accurately reflect the current use of the building; prior alteration permits with incomplete or inconsistent scope descriptions; and structural modifications from the conversion period — new partition walls, floor penetrations, abandoned plumbing riser locations — that exist in the building fabric without a corresponding permit record. JMR's Boerum Hill project process begins with a complete DOB BIS research review covering the CO history, all prior permits and their final inspection status, and all open violations, before any pre-construction assessment visit is scheduled. Findings from the BIS research are presented to the owner with recommended resolution strategies before any renovation scope is proposed.

Kitchen renovations in Boerum Hill brownstones that involve plumbing, electrical, or structural modifications require a DOB building permit filed by a DOB-registered architect or engineer. Before the permit application is prepared, JMR conducts a DOB BIS research review to identify any open violations on the property — particularly those related to prior kitchen or bathroom work from the building's conversion or reconversion history — since open violations must be addressed in the new filing. The pre-construction assessment then documents the existing kitchen drain configuration, the position of the building's main stack, the available floor joist depth for new drain routing, and the electrical panel capacity for new circuit additions. In Boerum Hill brownstones with conversion-period improvised plumbing, the existing drain routing may not be in the location suggested by the original building plan; JMR's assessment documents actual existing conditions — not assumed original conditions — before any kitchen layout is proposed.

JMR has completed 7 projects in Boerum Hill — including full brownstone gut renovations with DOB BIS open violation resolution, LPC Certificate of Appropriateness coordination for facade restoration, and complete mechanical system replacements in buildings with complex conversion-period histories — with all permits filed through the NYC Department of Buildings Brooklyn Borough Office.