UPDATE: Multiple Injuries in Collapse of Neglected Bed-Stuy Building

Dozens of New York firefighters and police are still at the scene of Tuesday’s four-story building collapse in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The 2:30 p.m. collapse was so ear-shattering, nearby residents said, that they thought a bomb had gone off.

The FDNY is reporting several non-life threatening injuries among people who were walking down Fulton Street when the building fell.

Now that ambulances have fought through Brooklyn traffic and rushed the victims to the hospital, though, residents have space to wonder: What on Earth was going on at 1438 Fulton Street?

Turns out the building had been abandoned for some time, and the shop on the bottom floor — Sahel Inc., a hair-braiding and beauty-supply store — had closed its doors. Its owner, Bashir Hamadou, tells Patch that the building had no tenants.

New York City property records show the building (and the massive empty lot next to it) belong to Moses Strulovich of CS Management. As part of a multimillion-dollar development project he’s reportedly planning at the site, Strulovich filed an application with the city to demolish the building last year. It was approved in December.

It’s unclear if he’s been doing anything in the seven months since to secure the building, which dates back to 1904.

Strulovich did not answer calls and emails for comment. His voice mailbox is full. When we called one of two men listed as working with Strulovich on the construction project, Peter Stroh, his secretary said he was out of the office. The other man, Ben Brachfeld, repeated that he had no comment before saying: “The building was vacant, and was going to get demolished.” Then he hung up.

It’s also unclear if the city’s been doing its part to regularly inspect the building.

More city records show that in 2012, someone called the city to complain that a ”construction fence” at the property was damaged and that a ”cinder-block fence and brick column on the south lot line” was in danger of collapsing.

When inspectors responded to the call, they decided nothing was wrong.

And back in 2011, when a ”decorate brownstone fell from the 3rd floor center window,” inspectors were appeased when the owner at the time (not Strulovich) erected a sidewalk shed to protect pedestrians from any further falling debris.

But today, four years later, no sidewalk shed could have protected pedestrians when the rest of the brownstones fell down.

Patch has reached out to the Department of Buildings for comment.

Photo courtesy of Rosalynn Ali.