ABC News

The Flatbush collapse involved a three-story mixed-use building (ground-floor commercial + apartments) that fell into an adjacent open construction/excavation pit next to a site where a one-story building had been demolished. This is under active investigation by the NYC Department of Buildings; nearby excavation without proper support or underpinning of adjacent foundations is a known risk factor for such failures under NYC building codes. Exact matches of an existing occupied building falling into a neighboring excavation pit are rare in recent decades precisely because codes require protective measures (shoring, underpinning, monitoring). Major catastrophic collapses of occupied buildings in NYC over the past century have more often involved extreme events (e.g., 9/11), fires, explosions, or specific construction failures rather than routine low-rise mixed-use structures. The 2023 Bronx and Ann Street cases are the closest recent parallels in scale and construction linkage. Ongoing investigation of the Flatbush site will clarify the precise cause.