This project got its name - the Williamsburg Finger - from the community because its developer, Mendel Brach, had planned a 16-story building in a low-rise neighborhood and got bogged down in stop-work orders, legal disputes and community protests about the building s height.

He lost the building to a bank and the building's height was lowered to 14 stories.

The project architect was Robert Scarano Jr., the incredibly prolific architect who peppered northwestern Brooklyn with dozens of attractive, but controversial buildings, many with "mezzanine" floors. His dicing of the city's zoning made him a developer's delight but eventually incurred the wrath of the city's Department of Buildings that ruled in 2008 that he could not longer "certify" that his designs were in compliance with the city's zoning and planning regulations. He appealed but in July 2010 lost in the Appellate Division.

A March 18, 2011 article about him by Andrew Rice in the magazine section of The New York Times was headlined "The Supersizer of Brooklyn" and stated that Scarano had met zoning requirements at the "Finger" building "by proposing a shared outdoor deck - on the roof of a neighboring property." The current charges grew out of a 2008 inquiry by the city's Department of Investigation and the Buildings Department. In 2006, the city brought charges against Mr. Scarano claiming that he violated zoning rules or building codes in the design of more than two dozen apartment buildings, many in Williamsburg, and also that he failed to guarantee safe conditions at a building site on Ocean Parkway where a worker was killed in a wall collapse. The charges were settled.

Despite complaints about dozens of his projects in recent years, Mr. Scarano was ultimately brought down by his work on just three buildings, including one project, at 145 Snediker Avenue in East New York, where the issue was a lamppost.

An August 19, 2009 by Bonnie Kavoussi at observer.com noted that "It's become a clich? now: for the past few years, the Finger Building has been getting the finger from Williamsburg residents, the guy who sued (Scott Spector), HSBC, and even from its new owners, who have changed its name to the Albero ("the Tree" in Italian)."

"Though construction had stalled and the building had even entered foreclosure, the Finger (as it is still known in Williamsburg) at 144 North Eighth Street is finally under construction again and may actually get finished. After years of heated debate in the courts and the streets about how high this aesthetically challenged building should rise, it's been resolved: the Scarano-designed Albero will be 14 stories high, according to the project's construction manager Mike Schon, and it will be finished in 10 months," the article said.

"The second floor is going to be the condo's crown jewel. With a gym and a few apartments on the inside, a large green roof-deck will surround the second floor, with patios and other amenities," the article continued.

GFI bought the Finger from HSBC after HSBC took over the foreclosed building when Mendel Brach, the previous developer, defaulted on construction loans. Even those leading the project have been taking a defensive stance. "Rather than have a horrible ugly skeleton looming over them, now they'll have a finished product," said Steven Horowitz, the GFI Capital vice president charged with managing the Finger.

"Nearby retailers did not express a great deal of enthusiasm for the rusting Finger, though they did say that the new condo owners will bring in more business," the article said.

"The half-finished building, which is still mostly torn open," the article continued, "is recognizable from nearly anywhere in this low-rise neighborhood. Its red metal outer walls try to mimic red bricks, while all the nearby buildings are townhouses made of real bricks."

"How many stories the building would boast has been a perpetual point of contention. While the building has been frozen at 10 stories, plaintiff Scott Spector-who claims to own the space's air rights-at first went to court to keep it at 10 stories and succeeded in preventing it from reaching the originally planned 16 stories. Then he wanted it torn down. Then, when the Finger needed a new permit two years ago, residents pushed for it to get cut to half its size-to 50 feet high (five stories) instead of the original 100 feet it had already reached, since zoning only allowed for 50 feet. Finally, the Board of Standards and Appeals determined in December 2007 that the Finger could stay at 10 stories. A year later, when the Finger - still stalled - found a new owner in GFI, the BSA allowed for it to rise to 16 stories. Though Mr. Horowitz has declined to comment on how tall it would rise, it is thanks to Mr. Schon from East Wing Construction that we know it will rise to 14."

GFI subsequently decided to drop The Albero name for the building.