By Bill Parry
A Long Island City climbing gym has given new meaning to an open-and-shut case.
Just 20 days after its long-awaited opening, The Cliffs at LIC was shuttered by the city Department of Buildings Oct. 25 for not having a valid certificate of occupancy. It is the latest setback for owner Mike Wolfert, who claims it is just a matter of paperwork.
“The DOB got an anonymous and fictitious tip that we didn’t have our zoning permit,” Wolfert said. “That led to an inspection that found out that we didn’t have the necessary certificate.”
The 30,000-square-foot gym, one of the largest in the nation, was closed down and may not open until December.
DOB Press Secretary Kelly Magee said, “This location opened without a certificate of occupancy. It is illegal to occupy a building without it. The vacate order remains in effect.”
It is the latest in a series of problems confronting Wolfert.
The grand opening, which drew two thousand people Oct. 5, was delayed five months because of a stop-work order from the DOB. Wolfert was then arrested in May for allegedly bribing a building inspector to lift the order, the city Department of Investigation said. An undercover investigator from the DOI posed as a building inspector .If convicted, he faces seven years in jail, the DOI said.
He continues to proclaim his innocence, saying, “I still look forward to telling my side of the story.”
The Cliffs is the second rock climbing gym owned by Wolfert after The Cliffs of Valhalla in Westchester County.
“We’ve never had a problem in Westchester. We’ve been open eight years without a single issue or complaint,” he said.
Wolfert has submitted revised construction plans and will have an inspection by a third party structural engineer to satisfy the DOB.
Meanwhile, all club memberships are on hold until the reopening.
“Nobody is getting billed and when we reopen we’re going to throw in all kinds of free services,” Wolfert said. “The climbing community has been very supportive and they can’t wait for us to open again.”
The Cliffs at LIC, at 11-11 44th Drive, features 60-foot climbing walls that can accommodate 500 climbers at a time. Besides rock climbing, which has grown in popularity during the last decade as a fitness workout, there are cardio machines and free weights.
As for Wolfert’s employees, he said, “All seven of my full-timers remain on the payroll, another 40 part-timers are waiting on the reopening. That all depends on the speed of the Department of Buildings.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
