On December 12, 2023, a corner in a seven-story building in The Bronx, NY came down without warning, leaving rubble as high as 12 feet in some spots. Miraculously, no one was severely injured, but about 150 residents were displaced as a result, many of whom are now dealing with the uncertainty that has come with this disaster.
According to Housing Preservation and Development, the building has had a total of 178 complaints over the last two years and 103 open violations. It is currently unclear what caused the partial building collapse. An investigation is ongoing, according to the reports. As engineers prepare to examine physical evidence from the collapse and inspectors search through building records, the quest is now on to explain how and why the corner of the property suddenly collapsed.
An engineer who oversaw inspections of the building that partially collapsed says he “misdiagnosed” a column that was holding up the building. Mayor Eric Adams and the city’s buildings commissioner, James Oddo, said the city had suspended the engineer’s authority to inspect building facades and would seek to permanently revoke that authority.
