Collapsed Bed-Stuy Construction Site Was Disaster Waiting to Happen, Records Show

Photo courtesy of @NYCityAlerts/Twitter.

A wall that collapsed at a construction site in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, on Thursday around noon — killing a young worker and injuring two more — was repeatedly reported to city officials as unstable and hazardous in the year since an old building was torn down at the site, Department of Buildings (DOB) records show.

Most recently, a civilian filed a complaint in regard to an unstable construction wall at 656 Myrtle Avenue (located in upper Bed-Stuy, near Williamsburg and Clinton Hill).

“Barrier was not stable,” the anonymous person complained on May 11, 2015. “I have taken pictures.”

The same person complained that construction workers, who weren’t wearing masks or suits on the “asbestos abatement site,” appeared to be endangered.

The complaint was referred to the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), according to the DOB.

Patch has reached out to both departments for more information on their actions in response to the complaint. We’ll update when we hear back.

The owner of 656 Myrtle is listed in city documents as Chaim Green of Binyan Myrtle, LLC.

A man who answered Green’s phone on Thursday afternoon would not say whether he was Green, or whether he knew Green.

“You have the wrong number, OK? Thank you,” the man said before hanging up.

When reached by phone, a female representative for Avishay I. Mazor, the structural engineer listed on the construction permits, would not give her name.

“I have no information,” she said. ”I just know that a wall collapsed.”

“We designed it,” she said of the construction project. ”We’re not the inspecting engineers.” When asked what type of building was planned for 656 Myrtle, she said: ”I can’t speak to that.”