By Bret Nolan Collazzi
Confronted by a foot-wide tree bending into his property and a neighbor unwilling to let him chop it down, the developer of two three-family homes in Zerega went out on a limb last month: He built the 50-foot tree into his project.
The so-called Tree House of St. Raymond Avenue, a cinderblock-and-steel structure with a recently pruned oak enmeshed in one of its exterior walls, has been drawing puzzled stares for weeks from passing motorists and visitors to the nearby New York Westchester Square Medical Center.
On Wednesday, February 8, though, the Department of Buildings was anything but amused by the creative horticulture.
Deeming the structure at 2472-74 St. Raymond Avenue not only contrary to the plans filed with the DOB but also extremely hazardous, the agency slapped the builder, the Flushing-based Affordable Development, with a stop-work order
