Gotcha. Good luck.

Ridiculous. Perhaps the contractors didn't build to spec. Drainage issues, possible post-9/11 secured barricades?

DDC is part of the cross-city agency collaboration for decades. DDC, DOT and DEP are sister agencies that work in tandem, but not always in the correct order.

For example, they would repave the road over a long stretch.....then rip up the streets to expand water mains and sewer pipes. Then patch up the pavement. Instead of doing it the other way around. Replace the underground pipes THEN put fresh new asphalt pavement.

I know. I used to work for DDC ;)

You should have hired a photographer. I've shot many surprise engagement proposals as a pro photographer. The look on her face at that moment is priceless.

No. The only time they would reclaim such a space is with eminent domain, they take over a property legally & at market value for public use

Again, I've been in these rooms or voids. I've had to do vault surveys before the NYC DOT planned on ripping up the sidewalk for roadway improvements. They needed to know what areas were hollow, before digging. Hence a vault survey.

You can stand in them and some have been converted to rooms. They are grandfathered in.

Some are unused & sealed.......or used for storage.

I saw a few in Downtown Brooklyn where they made them into an extension of a home office/den.

The building is built up the property line or behind the property line. A vault extends outside the building line onto city property below the sidewalk.

So you got it the other way around. The building can't expand out above ground. It would be encroaching on public property (sidewalk/street).

Thanks. 32+ years Surveying the city and I think I've seen it all. Streets, highways, bridges, hydro graphic water surveys, Rikers Island, etc.

Above ground and below, including responding to the WTC terrorist attacks after September 11, 2001. I worked 4+ months at Ground Zero.

Because of the job, I feel I know my way around the city like the back of my hand.

It is :)

You're welcome :)

That's an areaway with a grate on top. Vaults are underground voids under the sidewalk that are attached to a building. Some sidewalks have them and are hollow. Most sidewalks are solid with earth and concrete. Some of these vaults are used as storage space or habitable rooms. They were once used for Coal Chute manholes to deliver coal to heat up the building.

As a Land Surveyor with the City, I've surveyed hundreds of vaults in NYC.