Six-story residential building partially collapses in the Bronx

Part of a six-story building in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx collapsed Monday afternoon. There were no immediate reports of injuries, the fire brigade said.

Initial photos and videos showrooms on the corner of the 46-unit building were visible, almost as if the walls had been ripped off. Evidence of the lives disrupted by the partial collapse peeked out from the tangle of metal and wood.

On the street below, walls and bricks lay jumbled beneath the apartments, exposed to the cold afternoon air.

The fire brigade warned that the investigation into the 1915 Billingsley Terrace collapse was at a preliminary stage. Laura Kavanagh, the fire commissioner, said on Twitter that firefighters were looking for people who might be trapped.

According to city construction documents, questions about the building’s safety have existed for years. The ground floor has several shops, including a market on the corner of West Burnside Avenue and Phelan Place.

Last month the Ministry of Buildings published a $2,400 fine to the building owner due to “deteriorated and broken mud banks” at the base of the scaffolding that enveloped the property. The damage could “affect structural stability and cause a possible collapse,” the fine said.

The building is owned by a limited liability company, 1915 Realty, which bought the property for $3 million in 2004, records show.

After the collapse on Monday, the city’s Emergency Management Department filed a request for one structural stability inspection of the site.

In 2020, the building’s brick facade was deemed “unsafe” after a mandatory inspection of it by a structural engineer revealed “significant masonry damage to the entire facade,” including cracks in the brick. The owner was ordered to repair the exterior; It was not immediately known on Monday whether the repairs had been completed.

The engineer’s report found that the deterioration was “generally caused by aging” and exposure to the elements.

This is a development story. Check back here for updates.

Maria Kramer reporting contributed.