UPS Execs To Give Update On Threatened Red Hook Building

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN — Residents worried about the future of the historic Lidgerwood Building after UPS started tearing it down last month can get the latest update during a meeting with the company's executives Tuesday night.

United Parcel Service officials will stop by The Hamilton at 6 p.m. to give the public an update on their plans for the 19th-century building, which they started demolishing before Memorial Day Weekend to the shock of elected officials and thousands of residents who signed a petition trying to save it. The company ultimately promised to pause the demolition and look further into how to save at least the south facade of the Coffey Street structure.

The meeting, organized by Council Member Carlos Menchaca and U.S. Rep. Nydia Valazquez, will let the parcel company go over feedback they received from residents through a dedicated email they set up to gather ideas.

The officials will also give an update on the engineering analysis their chief information and engineering officer, Juan Perez, ordered when they paused demolition. The company said they wouldn't tear down any more of the south side of the building until the study is done.

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The company has continued work on other parts of the 350,000-square-foot property where the Lidgerwood building stands as the analysis is being completed. The site, which the company purchased in December, is set to become UPS' newest Brooklyn facility.

Tuesday's meeting will be held at The Hamilton at 120 Hamilton Avenue. It will start at 6 p.m.

UPS first said they would hold a meeting about the building in person back in June, when President of Global Public Affairs Laura Lane emailed activists and said she would fly up to speak with them. That meeting was then postponed when Perez ordered the study.

The Lidgerwood Manufacturing Building, found at 202 Coffey Street, was built in 1882 as part of its factory plant, which made equipment that was used in building the Panama Canal, the main dam for the Croton Falls reservoir and dock building, according to a history of the site.