Benefit set to help artist Nicole Gagne from 5Pointz studio stairway collapse
By John Lauinger
Firefighters look on after staircase collapse on Davis St., in Long Island City, Queens. (Bates for News)
Nicole Gagne — the artist severely injured in an April stairway collapse at the 5Pointz building in Long Island City — is "continuing to recover" from the horrific accident, her mother told Queens News.
The 37-year-old jewelry designer rented a studio in the Crane St. former factory, which graffiti artists have turned into a canvas for street art.
Gagne was leaving her studio April 10 when an external stairway crumbled. She fell three stories and was trapped under rubble. She was initially in critical condition in the trauma unit at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
Three months later, she is no longer hospitalized, but still fighting to recover, her mother said in the family's first public comments since the accident.
"My daughter is still rehabbing from the accident," said Gagne's mother, who requested her name not be used. "That is really all I can say right now."
Gagne's friends and fellow 5Pointz studiomates are holding a benefit Thursday to help raise money for her expenses.
It will run from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Priska C. Juschka Fine Art gallery in Chelsea. Postcard-sized artwork will be sold for $40.
"Nicole was a very important part of our community," the artists of the so-called Crane St. Studios said in a statement. "The success of our open studio events could not have happened without her."
Ironically, the community Gagne helped foster won't be allowed to continue at 5Pointz, said the building's owner, Gerald Wolkoff.
Following the accident, the Buildings Department issued a vacate order — leaving more than 100 artists unable to access their lofts.
The agency slapped Wolkoff with 11 violations, including one for failing to update the certificate of occupancy to reflect the studios.
The vacate order will not be lifted until the violations are corrected, said Buildings Department spokeswoman Carly Sullivan.
City records show that more than a year before the accident, Wolkoff was issued a violation for failing to get a permit to build partition walls to create the lofts. That violation is still pending.
Wolkoff, owner of G & M Realty of Brentwood, L.I., told Queens News it will be "financially impossible" to keep the studios there.
"All the artists will be gone," he said, noting the partition walls will soon be removed.
Wolkoff initially faced $100,000 in fines related to the accident, Sullivan said.
He did not show up for a June 2 hearing before the city Environmental Control Board, leading to a $5,000 penalty.
Wolkoff did attend a June 9 hearing, during which six of the 11 violations were addressed, and he was issued a total of $7,800 in fines, Sullivan said.
The remaining violations are to be taken up at a hearing on Sept. 15.
jlauinger@nydailynews.com
Latest Queens
Elderly woman alleges deed scam on her home; accused says he's 'innocent'