A worker injured in Wednesday’s fatal Brooklyn building collapse told the New York Post that corners were cut at the adjacent construction site, calling conditions there “third-world stuff,” as Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the Department of Buildings is leading a comprehensive investigation into the disaster. Mamdani vowed that the city “will hold them fully accountable” for any violations found in the collapse, which killed eight people, mostly immigrants, and displaced dozens of residents.
The New York Post also reported Saturday that the owner of the collapsed three story building at 1321 Flatbush Ave. is a tax delinquent landlord who owes $450,000 in debt. The mixed use building fell into an active excavation pit next door at 2625 Bedford Ave., where two construction workers and six others, including a 9 year old girl and a 10 year old boy, were killed and 18 people were injured.
The city had approved construction plans for the neighboring lot despite prior violations, including an April citation against a demolition contractor for tearing down a building in defiance of a stop work order. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez and New York Attorney General Letitia James have opened a criminal inquiry, while city inspectors are sweeping about 100 other construction sites tied to five entities involved in the project.
