Abandoned Keap Street Metal Factory

Published on: March 2nd, 2016 | Last updated: July 30, 2018 | Written by: Bad Guy Joe

---

In the heart of Williamsburg once sat a mysterious, abandoned factory building that was not long for this rapidly redeveloping world we call Brooklyn. This post isn’t so much a piece of it’s story as it is a photographic documentation of it’s time before death.

Around 2011, I went into this abandoned factory a few times. Located behind the Kellogg diner along Keap Street in Williamsburg, this former factory site sat vacant for several years before being converted to (you guessed it) apartments.

At the time, there was very little to see inside. No evidence of the building’s past life, only scribbles on the walls. Some of the graffiti came from talented artists, while the rest was likely done by squatters.

The proximity of this abandoned factory to transit police station below ground is probably the only thing that prevented this building from becoming a a mecca for graffiti and illegal parties.

According to a certificate of occupancy on file with the city, this building was apparently being used for metal fabrication in 1966. Property tax records indicate that it was owned by a real estate company since the 1970s, called “CHASWILO RLTY CORP”. Afterwards, it was sold numerous times over. By 2009 it had become a vacant shell of whatever it’s former self was. Numerous reports of squatters living in the building and apparently breaking into neighboring properties were filed with the city. Every complaint with met with city inspectors standard response to such matters: “No violation found”. When we accessed this building in 2011, it was a no brainer. We slipped past some construction fence and found the rear door and all windows either open or completely removed.

If you know anything more about the history of this building, by all means comment below.

And finally, here is a before and after view, from 2011 to 2018. As you can see, the exterior has been drastically altered, with significantly larger windows and newer, polished facade.

Comments

NOTE: It sometimes takes a short while for comments to be approved - unfortunately there's a lot of spam comments that come in. I absolutely love when y'all share personal stories of friends relatives etc who worked in these places. It really helps capture what these places were like before they closed up shop.

If you're feeling salty, argumentative comments completely devoid of facts (supply links to support your argument) will not be published. Got a case to state? come with the details.

One response to “Abandoned Keap Street Metal Factory”

1. uk shoes with red soles says:

   May 14, 2018 at 11:42 AM

   I had gotten this one gifts towards my personal mom towards Christmas mainly because she is actually one precious jewelry freak. The one thing she cannot put on far regarding are, bracelets. I purchased this girl your appeal bracelet and where she opened they yesterday she absolutley loved this! This time the problem was, the lady getting information technology concerning plus down simply by herself. Haha… in general very good device, that shipped and/or came quite early furthermore my mom was experiencing information technology. Thank your.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.