That is one hell of a parking ticket.
Someone parked an Airstream trailer on the roof of a Red Hook warehouse — and the mobile-home-extension is racking up fines.
In addition to the aluminum icon of Americana, the non-traditional home enthusiast who lives in the one-story building at the corner of Van Brunt and Seabring streets has also built a wooden hut the size of a studio apartment and installed two 10-foot planters on top of the building, according to city records. The city has slapped the building with $30,000 in fines for the un-sanctioned rooftop additions since the itinerant trailer took root on the roof in 2012, records show.
Neighbors say the penalties seem excessive, if not surprising.
“It’s lame that the city is giving him s— for that, but I’m sure he had permits for absolutely nothing,” said Christian Kubek, who repairs motorcycles in a garage across Seabring street.
No one answered the door at the warehouse, but Kubek said the owner is a roofer turned recreational vehicle enthusiast who goes by Ronnie and sells curiosities from the warehouse on weekends.
“I think he used to be a roofer, but now I think he just collects stuff and tries to sell it,” he said.
Another neighbor thought the collector of eccentricities might be taking his show on the road.
“He has all kind of wild stuff he’s collected,” said Ryan Cheney, who owns adjacent confectionery Raaka Chocolate. “He’s got a fireproof suit for an old German pilot — he’s got old cars. I think he’s getting a plot of land up north of the city and plans to potentially go more rural, so I think that’s why he’s been around a little bit less.”
A company called RX Construction Inc. owns the building, according to Department of Buildings records. But mortgage documents show the owner is Agron Haskaj — a principal with Trion Construction company. Both companies are roofing contractors.
Numbers listed for both businesses have been disconnected.
A Facebook user named Agron Haskaj posted photos in January 2014 of an airstream parked on a roof with what appears to be the New York Dock Company building on Imlay Street in the background. The Facebook user did not respond to a request for comment.
It is not the only Airstream in the neighborhood — a veritable airstream graveyard sits at the corner of Columbia and Woodhull streets a few blocks north.
The rooftop trailer park appears to be in far better condition than the roof in nearby Park Slope that was covered in tin cans and plastic buckets in 2013.
The Red Hook rambler’s owner may be a mystery, but one thing is clear — it took some serious machinery to get it up there in the first place, neighbors said.
“I don’t know much about it other than that he craned it up there,” Kubek said.
