Share This Article
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday that the city has identified six “entities” involved in the construction site at 2625 Bedford Ave., and that inspectors are checking roughly 160 other work sites across the city where those companies are also involved.
City officials are promising a full investigation into the cause of the deadly building collapse in Flatbush, Brooklyn, which killed eight people and injured 18 others earlier this week.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday that the city has identified six “entities” involved in the construction site at 2625 Bedford Ave., where officials say crews were doing excavation work Wednesday afternoon when the three-story apartment building next door, at 1321 Flatbush Ave., collapsed.
The Department of Buildings (DOB) is now inspecting roughly 160 other construction sites across the city where those six entities are also doing work, according to the mayor—part of a “comprehensive and thorough investigation” into both properties.
“If there is anyone or any entity operating in this city that bears responsibility for what happened, we will hold them fully accountable,” Mamdani said in a briefing Thursday.
A City Limits review of public properties records found two previous building violations issued to the Bedford Avenue construction site: one in March for crews doing demolition work without required “overhead protection,” and another in April for continuing construction while a stop work order was in place. The contractor named in those violations, N Tech Design of America, did not immediately return a request for comment.
The site is owned by two limited liability companies, FF1632 LLC and JS1024 LLC, which bought the property for nearly $4 million in 2024. The owner and developer of the site, Robert Fischman, did not respond to voicemails left at his place of business Friday.
Fischman had city approval to demolish a one-story building on the site and construct a new three-story building, according to DOB records. He had also submitted plans to build a nine-story building, which were not yet approved.
“If there’s any changes to either the excavation that’s done, the foundation that would be in place for a larger building, those adjustments would have to be made as part of the longer-term approval,” said DOB Commissioner Ahmed Tighani at a press conference Friday.
The adjacent three-story apartment building that collapsed into the construction site, 1321 Flatbush Ave., had 98 open violations on record with the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, including for things like unsafe electrical wiring and a leaking ceiling.
Attempts to reach the owner—listed on city records as Isolag Realty Corporation, which is registered with the state under the name Olufemi Falade—were unsuccessful.
Local leaders, including Flatbush City Councilmember Farah Louis and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, planned a vigil near the scene of the tragedy Friday to demand accountability for the disaster.
The eight fatalities included two children, officials said.
“This could have been any one of us,” Sharpton told reporters, according to a video of the event shared online. “This should not go for two or three days of mourning, and then we go about our business. We don’t know when the next house will collapse.”
Here’s what else happened this week in housing—
ICYMI, from City Limits:
- The number of homeless students attending the city’s public schools declined by 10 percent during the 2025-2026 school year compared to the year before, but remains stubbornly high, with more than 138,000 kids who went without stable housing.
- The city is earmarking an extra $25 million to hire 300 additional outreach workers and open more low-barrier shelter beds this winter, after a brutal freeze killed 18 New Yorkers last year.
- Tenants organizing across 31 Manhattan buildings in foreclosure are the latest to see support from Mamdani’s newly reinvigorated Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants.
ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:
- A Columbian father and his 9-year-old daughter were among those killed in the Flatbush building collapse, according to Gothamist, which spoke to relatives about how the family had been fearful of federal immigration enforcement in recent months.
- The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office has opened an investigation into the collapse, the New York Times reports.
- Councilmember Farah Louis introduced a bill that would require the city to come up with a plan for addressing vacant rent-stabilized apartments, according to The Real Deal.
- Mayor Mamdani signed the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act into law, amNY reports.
To reach the reporter behind this story, contact [email protected]. To reach the editor, contact [email protected]
Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.