Part of a vacant commercial building on the corner of East Burnside and Walton Ave. partially collapsed on Jan. 12, marking at least the fourth such incident in the Bronx in recent years.
The collapse took down a large section of wall that collapsed onto the scaffolding below, sending massive amounts of debris onto the street and sidewalk.
No injuries were reported, but Bronxites were left rattled in the wake of several structural collapses that grabbed headlines in recent years.
Most recently, an apparent explosion at the NYCHA Mitchel Houses in Mott Haven brought the entire corner of a 20-story tower crumbling to the ground. In June 2024, the facade of a commercial building in Van Cortlandt Village collapsed onto the sidewalk, and in Dec. 2023, a partial collapse took down the corner of a residential building at 1915 Billingsley Terrace, less than a mile from the East Burnside/Walton Ave. collapse.
The Department of Buildings (DOB) said the East Burnside building was vacant and undergoing demolition work before the collapse but had several problems leading up to the disaster.
DOB had issued a Full Stop Work Order on Jan. 7 and issued multiple violations to the contractor, including for demolition work contrary to plans and out of sequence, missing guardrails and more.
When the Bronx Times visited the site the next day, the entire block was closed to traffic, but several residents took photos and asked what had happened as they walked by. Several DOB officials were present and spoke at length with a man who denied being affiliated with the building when approached by the Bronx Times.
One resident walking by was Janay Davis, who lives two doors away. She said she was “stunned” to see the disaster, especially since she probably slept through it.
Davis said she works the overnight shift for 311 and was likely sound asleep when the building fell in the late afternoon. That night, Access-A-Ride picked her up for work and instructed her to meet the driver at the end of the block, but she didn’t realize anything was wrong until daylight, she said. “Now I’m seeing this destruction, it’s crazy.”
Davis said she was thankful that no residents or workers were hurt but felt rattled, especially since she often walks that street, now covered in heavy debris, on the way to local shops.
“What the heck is going on?” said Davis. “It looks like a bomb hit it.”
She said she has only lived in the neighborhood since Sept. after relocating from Brooklyn.
“This block seems to be pretty decent, but it’s just sad something like this could happen,” Davis said. “Thank God. It could’ve been a lot worse. It’s just property. It can be rebuilt, but lives cannot be rebuilt.”
Another resident walking by told the Bronx Times she fears something similar could happen to her own home.
Sharon Hightower, who lives about half a mile away on Loring Place, was walking to a senior center when she saw the remnants of the collapse.
Hightower said she used to live at Mitchel Houses and that both incidents were an unwelcome reminder of Bronx landlords in the 1970s and 80s who burned their buildings rather than deal with costly repairs.
“Now they’re letting the buildings collapse to kill us,” Hightower said. “This is disgraceful.”
She said major structural problems are happening in her own building, where she has lived for 36 years.
Hightower showed the Bronx Times printed photographs of her bathroom taken in August, where a water leak had stained the ceiling brown, and parts of the paint had begun bubbling out. She also pointed to a black dot, saying she initially thought it was a bug but now believes it to be a small fungus caused by the moisture buildup.
Sharon said the damage has worsened significantly since then, and neighbors on other floors of the building have the same problem. But management has done only patchwork repairs and has not investigated whether the problem is caused by internal plumbing or originates from the roof, she said.
Hightower said she is contacting elected officials and city agencies and also spoke with DOB officials on the scene for advice on documenting the problem.
If it gets much worse at her building, “We could have an internal collapse that could end up like this,” she said.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
