New York authorities expanded their investigation into Wednesday’s catastrophic building collapse in Brooklyn to include 160 sites across the city associated with six companies involved in the fatal project, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Friday.
The fast-moving investigation — which involves several local, state and federal agencies — stretched into its third day on Friday amid reports that some of the firms involved in a project at 2625 Bedford Ave., adjacent to the collapse, had a history of ignoring safety concerns. The Fire Department concluded its search on Thursday after determining there were no more victims among the rubble of the devastated three-story building at 1321 Flatbush Ave.
The city is also bringing an outside engineering consulting firm for an independent look at the collapse, which is standard, Mamdani said.
Eight people, including two children, were killed in the disaster. The oldest victim was 35 years old, the youngest just nine.
Developers at the Bedford Avenue site were approved for excavation to build a three-story building, although they had sought approval for a nine-story building — a plan the Buildings Department had not granted. The excavation is now the subject of intense scrutiny.
“The excavation plans, the foundation work, that was connected to a new build construction for three stories. That is what they were approved to do, that is what they were building for, and if they were building any other kind of structure, any deviation, they would have to have that change,” Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said at the press conference. “Any change to a site safety plan requires a department review.”
Tenants of nearby buildings at 1323, 1325, and 1327 Flatbush Ave. were ordered to evacuate their homes; displaced residents are being helped with the Red Cross and the mayor’s fund, Mamdani said.
On Friday, a demolition crew could be seen gathering and disposing of debris as volunteers from World Central Kitchen distributed meals to workers. The apartments of the sheared-off building next door were still visible, like a dollhouse, its contents exposed to this week’s downpour.
Fast Expanding Plans
The developer of the Bedford Avenue site had decided in September to increase the size of the planned structure from three stories to nine stories, a change that required much deeper excavation next to 1321 Flatbush Ave.
It’s not clear what stage of the digging was underway when the collapse occurred, but Department of Building officials said workers were in the process of excavation Wednesday afternoon when the adjacent structure suddenly gave way and collapsed into the pit where they were at work. Three workers were among those killed, officials said.
On Friday, officials confirmed that DOB is now looking at whether the work was proceeding too quickly and whether that may have undermined the stability of the building next door.
The dramatic expansion of the excavation is outlined in documents filed over the last year by the licensed engineer overseeing the excavation, Jeyhiming Wang of LMW Engineering. (Wang did not respond to The City Reporter’s request for comment).
The project’s initial plans describe a three-story structure that would require excavation of 10,000 square feet of soil and would not involve digging below 12 feet. DOB approved permits for the excavation, foundation and earthwork described in that plan in the spring.
In September, however, new plans were filed with the Buildings Department. Now the developer, a limited liability corporation called W6 Facility X LLC that named Robert Fischman as a principal, wanted to build a nine-story structure. The much bigger building required a much deeper dig to more than 15 feet below street level and the removal of more than 20,000 square feet of soil, the filings show.
On Friday DOB spokesperson Andrew Rudansky confirmed that the much deeper excavation for the nine-story building was still under review when the collapse occurred.
In addition to the sweeps of 160 properties, the DOB is also looking into a potentially prescient 311 complaint that came in the night of the collapse voicing concerns that the excavation was not properly executed and may have triggered the collapse.
“My concern is that the subcontractor may have excavated too much of the area along the neighboring foundation at once,” the anonymous complaint stated. “I believe the collapse may have been preventable. Please determine whether the excavation sequence, the extent of foundation exposure, or the soil and groundwater conditions contributed to the collapse.”
DOB officials would not discuss the targeted entities, but records showed the agency had visited a building on Friday where N Tech Design of America was performing work. N Tech was cited last spring by DOB for doing demolition work at the Bedford Avenue site without a permit and then ignoring a stop work order when they got caught. They paid a $10,000 fine, and DOB then granted them a permit to finish the job.
Also on Friday officials revealed that a day after the collapse, a licensed “special inspector” hired by the developer to ensure the project was proceeding properly filed a notice with the DOB asking to withdraw their services from the project, Rudansky said.
“This withdrawal request to the Department is pending and has not yet been accepted,” he added.
‘I’m Alive’
Families displaced by the collapse gave tearful accounts of their experiences at a press conference at the Flatbush YMCA on Friday morning. They were flanked by community organizers and elected officials including state Attorney General Letitia James.
Among the survivors was Mamadou Mouctar Balde, whose cousins Ndiaye Mamadou, 31, and Barry Mamadou, 23, died in the collapse.
Balde had left to go shopping less than 10 minutes before the building toppled into the construction site on Bedford Avenue, he said in French. Balde’s pregnant wife, Fatoumata Binta Bah, was pulled alive from the rubble. She is receiving medical care, he said.
Through tears, Balde described his last memories of his cousins — one cooking and the other relaxing as he made his way out of their apartment. Balde said he called upstairs to tell them a delivery worker had arrived at the building and was bringing them a package. Balde only learned of the disaster after returning home a while later.
Ciohola Lawrence, who lived in the next-door building, which had a wall sheared off, said she had long heard the sounds of construction next door, a common occurrence over the last few months as crews demolished and excavated the Bedford Avenue site.
Lawrence had taken Wednesday off and thought she’d nap, but she couldn’t quite fall asleep. Finally she dozed off in her dark room, and awoke some time later to a living nightmare.
“I got up and I couldn’t believe I was seeing the outside of my house,” she said.
Lawrence wept as she recalled neighbors being carried out on stretchers as she evacuated her home.
“We don’t wish this experience on anybody,” Lawrence’s husband, James Alexander Williams, said as she cried against his chest.
“What breaks me is every day it becomes realer. I can look up in that building and I can see my stuff,” Lawrence said. “Every time I see the news I can see my stuff, but I can’t have it. But I’m alive, I am here.”
James, the attorney general, urged survivors and the public to be wary of scams exploiting the tragedy. She did not indicate her office was conducting its own investigation into the disaster. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he is working to secure legal services for affected families.
The Flatbush Community Development Center is conducting direct outreach to displaced families and raising money that will go directly to them, said Executive Director Robin Redmond. She said her staff will be door-knocking and meeting with families, including those from the buildings with vacate orders, in order to understand and help meet immediate and longer-term needs.
“These families, although their buildings didn’t collapse, they don’t have a home, they don’t have a roof over their head,” Redmond said.
Donations of gift cards, sealed toiletries and masks can be dropped off at the Flatbush YMCA , several local churches and at Councilmember Farah Louis’ office.
“My office is here alongside my colleagues and city agencies and community companies to make sure you get the shelter you need, the relief you need and the resources to build back again,” Louis said.
A Vigil in Bushwick
The victims of Wednesday’s disaster came from countries across four different continents. A father and child who died in the collapse had been hunkered down at home, evading ICE and fearing deportation, Gothamist reported.
The victims hailed from Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia, Guinea, Mexico and Trinidad, according reports and consulate officials.
Dozens of mourners gathered at a Bushwick home Thursday night to pay their respects to José Luis Caguana Cosquillo, a 26-year-old laborer who was killed in the collapse.
He was a dues-paying member of the Workers Justice Project, a Brooklyn-based workers center that services immigrant day laborers, the group’s executive director confirmed Thursday.
The vigil was organized by Caguana Cosquillo’s widow, who is pregnant with their second child. A tabletop altar lined with candles, flowers, and photos was draped by an Ecuadoran flag and the victim’s #7 soccer jersey. Caguana Cosquillo played the forward position on the Club Deportivo La Bahía soccer club, which is named after the Ecuadoran village he and his fellow teammates hail from.
In a video from the vigil, part of which was streamed live on Facebook, a woman who identifies herself as Caguana Cosquillo’s sister said he was the youngest of 10 children. “We never could have imagined we’d lose our little brother first,” she said in Spanish. “He will never meet his youngest child. Our pain is indescribable.”
Andrew Giambrone contributed.
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