The city has released the final investigation report on the 2023 partial building collapse at 1915 Billingsley Terrace, revealing that faulty engineering plans were to blame for the incident, which occurred while contractors were performing repairs. Although no one was seriously injured, the collapse displaced over 100 residents — and newly surfaced video showed many others narrowly escaping the harrowing event.
Immediately after the northeast corner of the Morris Heights building collapsed on Dec. 11, 2023, the multi-agency investigation began and later concluded that a cellar-level column on the northeast corner was not labeled in the engineer’s diagrams as load-bearing. The construction company did not catch the mistake and assumed the column to be only decorative, and as workers began to demolish the unreinforced column, it collapsed, taking the upper floors down with it.
Upon release of the report, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson said she was “disturbed” to learn details of these mistakes.
“This error has forever traumatized a community and could have led to the loss of innocent lives,” Gibson said in a Nov. 27 post on Instagram. “This tragedy is a stark reminder that mistakes in the design and construction of our buildings have real, devastating consequences.”
Overall, the investigation showed “the devastating consequences of making mistakes in this industry,” said Department of Buildings (DOB) Commissioner Jimmy Oddo. “The bottom line is that licensed construction professionals are supposed to know how to safely repair a building, and failure to implement proper safeguards when removing structural elements of a building shows an unacceptable lapse in judgment.”
Collapse within minutes
The 48-page report was completed by multiple city agencies using surveillance video, historical building records, witness interviews and building site visits. Videos newly released by DOB showed just how quickly the collapse occurred — and revealed that construction employees were not truthful with investigators about their work that day.
Footage from outside the ground-level deli in the building showed a worker using a chipping gun throughout the day to remove bricks from the column that later buckled, according to DOB. Video from inside the deli showed people reacting to apparent signs of trouble, then running outside just minutes before that entire corner of the building came down.
According to the report, construction workers falsely told investigators after the incident that they were not working that day on the column that fell — and surveillance video later contradicted their accounts. A DOB spokesperson said the agency does not issue enforcement actions and that the general contractor is legally responsible for all work at the site.
The collapse was not the first sign of problems at 1915 Billingsley Terrace. The building had a history of DOB violations, and in 2020, it was deemed “unsafe” under the city’s Façade Inspection Safety Program (FISP). Repairs were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and at the time, the 2020 report did not mention any necessary repairs to the column that eventually collapsed, though later plans were updated to show repairs on that structure. Records from FISP inspections were included in the final investigation report, but any potential connection between the 2020 issue and later collapse was not clearly defined.
Nonetheless, the city has made moves to hold responsible the engineer and contractor who failed to maintain safety at the site. Richard Koenigsberg, the engineer who failed to correctly identify the weight-bearing column, was suspended in February from conducting façade (exterior wall) inspections for two years and fined $10,000. The case was referred to a state office for possible further disciplinary action. DOB also issued two violations against the construction company, Arsh Landmark General Construction Corp., for failing to safeguard the site.
Making progress
While the investigation was underway, progress was made to help displaced residents and improve building safety throughout the city.
Zoe Kheyman, staff attorney for Legal Aid, is leading the ongoing lawsuit between tenants and Billingsley landlords in Bronx Housing Court. Landlords have agreed to make repairs to apartments and common areas and rebuild the damaged section of the building, which they were not necessarily legally required to do following the collapse, she told the Bronx Times.
Kheyman said the landlords are moving with urgency to file permits and line up necessary work. While repairs are moving slowly, she estimated that they will be finished by February.
The vacate order has been lifted for the rest of the building excluding the collapsed section — and the landlord agreed to move residents from the fallen apartments out of city shelters and into regular apartments within their portfolio, said Kheyman. Shelter conditions were “really awful,” and while one resident is still in shelter due to complicating circumstances, the rest are now settled into regular housing, she said.
The Billingsley collapse brought about changes at the city level, prompting the Adams administration to adopt a forward-looking approach to building inspection, especially for aging structures that have fallen into disrepair.
Council Member Pierina Sanchez, who chairs the Committee on Housing and Buildings, sponsored Local Law 79 of 2024, which passed through City Council and requires a risk-based inspection program focused on identifying and quickly correcting problems before damage occurs.
Sanchez said the new law, also called the Billingsley Terrace Structural Integrity Act, is “a momentous change” that “moves [DOB] from a reactive approach to a proactive one.”
The Adams administration committed $4.7 million to create and staff a new inspection unit, and DOB will conduct outreach to the construction industry with lessons learned from the Billingsley investigation.
These efforts will help prevent another disaster, said Sanchez. “No amount of discipline or new laws will return the peace that 1915 [Billingsley] residents lost on December 11th, yet we are making strides in making NYC safer for all.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
