With Patricia Lancaster's resignation as Buildings Commissioner after a series of high-profile construction-related fatalities and department snafus, the reaction is one of relief from some politicians while developers are sad. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who has been unhappy with the DOB for a while, said, "The time had come for new leadership at this department," and City Council member Jessica Lappin said, "I think it was appropriate and necessary...I want to thank her for......

Photograph of damaged building from the 303 East 51st Street construction site's crane by John Zwinck on Flickr During a press conference yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg said, "I don’t think anybody should be fully satisfied with the Department of Buildings’ performance. Whether somebody could have done a better job — I’m trying to — whether they could have done a better job I just don’t know." The Mayor's criticism lies squarely with his hire, architect turned......

Photograph from East 51st Street by gattogrosso212 at flickr Here's a big WTF: Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster told the City Council yesterday that plans for 303 East 51st Street, the site where a crane collapsed into surrounding buildings and caused the deaths of seven people, were accidentally approved by the department. Apparently the 43-story building's design didn't comply with zoning requirements for the area, and Lancaster "blamed the error on the unnamed plan examiner."......

A construction worker at an East 67th Street condominium construction site fell to his death this morning. The worker had been installing windows at the 23rd floor, and he fell onto a 14th floor balcony. Buildings Department Commissioner Patricia Lancaster issued a statement saying, "It appears the nylon safety strap connecting the worker to the building failed. As part of our investigation, our team is now auditing the method the crews used to install the......

Photograph of 102 East 124th Street via WABC The Department of Buildings commissioner admitted her agency knew a Harlem building was in danger of collapse but somehow it got lost in the shuffle and collapsed on its own. On Tuesday, bricks fell off 102 East 124th Street, a vacant building, and a few hours later, the roof and top floor collapsed. Its neighboring building was compromised and authorities moved to demolish it, asking the......

Above images from WNBC 4, below right image from WCBS 2; bottom left image from Peter Haskell/WCBS 880 A building collapse at 124th Street and Park Avenue has prompted the MTA to shut down all train service in and out of Grand Central Terminal. Metro-North's Dan Brucker told WCBS 880, "We don't know how long the closure will last. We have been told by the police not to have any trains run through the......

After a year of widely publicized construction site deaths, New York City's Buildings Dept. is working to tighten up some work rules that may have fallen by the wayside or are no longer sufficient. DOB Commissioner Patricia Lancaster wants new rules and a strengthening of the enforcement of work licenses for contractors and concrete operators. Given the pace of construction in NYC over the past few years, three deaths since 2006 related to concrete construction......

Satellite map rendering of 475 Kent Avenue from Live Search Maps Over 150 residents of an eleven-story building at Kent Avenue in South Williamsburg were evacuated yesterday after the Fire Department and Buildings Department found a number of violations. The building had been illegally converted to residences and a matzoh factory, complete with two silos of (highly combustible) grain in the basement. A neighboring building was cited as well, and the violations ranged from......

Last month, scaffolding holding two window cleaners outside a 47-floor building on East 66th Street collapsed, leaving one of the cleaners dead and the other, his brother, with massive injuries. Now, the survivor's doctors and wife are talking about his "miraculous" recovery, as he's alert and talking - and may even be able to walk in a year. Here's a list of what Alcides Moreno has been through, per the Daily News:- Fell 47......

Yesterday's gusting winds caused quite a bit of damage besides providing more winter chill. Building scaffolding was knocked over in many places, a tree pinned a man in NJ to the ground, and windows and/or debris fell from two Manhattan skyscrapers, hitting pedestrians. Winds were reported to be at least 40MPH, with gusts at 50MPH, yesterday (wind advisory was in effect until this morning at 4AM). The Buildings Department had asked property owners and construction......

Chumley’s owner Steve Shlopak recently poured his heart out to The Observer, admitting that the former speakeasy is now “just a dirt hole” with only two walls still up! The 1831 West Village landmark was closed in April when a chimney collapsed during repairs on an interior wall. Shlopak went into further disheartening detail:The rest of the building is held up with construction scaffolding. There is no ceiling and there is no floor... It’s almost......

Kudos to The Real Deal for coaxing DUMBO-based designer Robert Scarano out of the shadows. One of the city's most reviled architects, Scarano has been scrutinized by Department of Buildings for his safety and zoning violations. Following a summer outcry, the agency issued stop-work orders on some Scarano sites. He's even being investigated by the NYS Department of Education, which oversees licensed architects, but there is currently no record of disciplinary action. Overseeing a whopping......

Eight people were injured when the cable of a crane - carrying a 5-foot bucket of materials - came loose near the 53rd floor of the under-construction Bank of America building in Midtown yesterday afternoon. The bucket them hit a number of windows as it tumbled down, before falling behind some scaffolding. The FDNY said, "We determined that it hit parts of the building, and took a lot of glass down with it." Shards......

An illegal restaurant may have been the cause of a gas leak that caused a Manhattan apartment building to explode, injuring 20 people late yesterday afternoon. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said a gas leak caused a flash fire that blew out the walls of several apartments in the 20-unit building. Five people suffered serious burns and one firefighter was injured by falling debris while on the scene. Another firefighter was also hurt. Four of the......

Yesterday morning, a fire in a Flatbush home on East 19th Street claimed the lives of three people, a 76-year-old, 50-year-old, and a 12-year-old, and now authorities say that the 12-year-old, Bengino Dodard, died while trying to help others. Dodard and his 15-year-old cousin had been on the third floor when a fire broke out, apparently from faulty wiring. He called 911 from the second floor, but then returned to the third floor to get......

The city has hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent its various agencies who are coming under attack for the Deutsche Bank fire that claimed two firefighters lives. The Manhattan DA's office started a criminal probe, after some disturbing practices by the contractors and questionable omissions by the Fire Department and the Buildings Department came to light. Eventually smoking, by workers hired to help dismantle the WTC-dust contaminated building, was cited as the probable cause......

At least 27 families were evacuated 305 West 150th Street in Harlem after the Fire and Buildings Departments found the apartment building to be unstable. WNBC describes the building as an "active construction site" - so active that a resident complained to the Buildings Department that the owners were trying to do demolition work, with the residents still there. An inspection found that "floor braces were exposed" and "there was excessive debris." One report says......

The Post and Daily News have a number of editorials and columns about the Deutsche Bank building fire response and fallout. The Post continues to demand FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta's resignation and faulted Mayor Bloomberg for standing by Scoppetta. The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez wonders why Bloomberg and Scoppetta have gone into "virtual hiding" and blasts Bloomberg for sending lobbyists to kill "legislation that would force tougher enforcement of safety laws by the city......

Improper construction that posed a serious safety threat to pedestrians led to the adjustment of three modillions from the Tweed Courthouse. The building just underwent an $89 million renovation six years ago, but someone forgot to properly glue the architectural ornamentation to the building's cornice. The safety problems on one of the city's most prominent landmarks went unnoticed until a city Buildings Department manager gazed at Tweed while walking to his office on Chambers St.......

Seething over their many, ignored complaints about new construction at 808 Columbus Avenue, residents of Park West Village held a rally to demand an investigation. All 280 apartments at one Park West building, 784 Columbus, were evacuated when a retaining wall collapsed at the 808 site on Wednesday night. However, there were a number of calls to the Department of Buildings from 784 residents, complaining that the building was shaking as workers blasted in......

Residents of 784 Columbus Avenue are saying "I told you so" as the Department of Buildings continues its investigation into the retaining wall collapse at 808 Columbus Avenue. Residents at 784 have been complaining about the new constructions for some time and detailed how they've been wearing earplugs and noise-canceling headphones. A wooden retaining wall at the new construction site had been shoring up the land next to 784 Columbus; when the wall collapsed......

The tragic death of Firefighter Daniel Pujdak, who fell four stories while responding to a fire in Bushwick, has been deemed a terrible accident. But now there are some questions about the factory building that had been illegally allowing artists to live and work there. The fire, which occurred at 83 Meserole Street/146 Leonard Street, was started when fourth floor resident Karen Vanwart put a lit cigarette on a wooden window sill and left......

The demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building next to Ground Zero has been halted after officials are still unable to determine how a several-foot-long section of pipe fell from the deconstruction site and crashed through the roof of a neighborhing firehouse, injuring two firefighters. The incident occurred yesterday morning and investigators are still wondering how a 15-foot section of steam pipe from the irreperably damaged office tower fell through the roof of the firehouse,......

Last fall, preservationists failed to prevent the planned demolition of the Dakota Stables on West 77th And Amsterdam Avenue. Though preservationists were trying to have the Dakota Stables landmarked, the Landmarks Preservation Committee denied it landmark status because some of its facade was stripped by the developer - while it was being considered for landmark status! Talk about gaming the system. Now the City Council is reviewing a bill to close a the "landmarks loophole".......

City real estate is a tough market to navigate, so tough that some couples who are splitting up decide to live together until they can find their own places. And then there are the Taubs of Borough Park. Earlier this year, as the couple separated, Simon Taub said that he was going to put a wall down the middle of their home because he didn't want to move and be further from his kids and......

The divergent fates of two historic stable buildings on the Upper West Side crystallized yesterday, following votes by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The former New York Cab Company Stable on Amsterdam and West 75th Street (pictured, right) will survive as a designated historic landmark, while the former Dakota Stable, just up the street at West 77th and Amsterdam (pictured left), will be demolished to make way for a new condominium building to be designed......

A Philadelphia woman on a business trip was hit by a piece of falling brick right as she stepped out of a cab. The Post reports that even though there was scaffolding outside of 500 Fifth Avenue, somehow a 3-by-1 inch shard of brick fell and hit 42 year old Myrna Villaneuva above the eye. Summons were issued by both the Buildings Department and police for failing to protect the public. We imagine Villaneuva, who......

Yesterday morning, a worker died when a Queens building collapsed. Two other workers were also injured, and the 7 train was even suspended as officials were worried that the train's vibrations would cause more damages. FDNY Deputy Chief Steven Kubler said that workers had been pouring concrete onto the top floor of the structure, but the top just fell down onto the third floor "in a pancake-like fashion and also caused the scaffolding on the......

The Buildings Department has some idea of what caused a rigging from a towering crane at Third Avenue and 13th Street to fall on Friday. The Department of Buildings' initial findings say hydraulics failed. The Third Avenue sidewalk between 14th and 12th Streets only opened yesterday afternoon, after the damaged parts of the crane were removed. Here's the NY Times' account of how the crane was stabilized and the aftermath:The crane was dangerously unbalanced, though.......

Yesterday afternoon, part of the East Village came to a standstill as emergency workers tried to secure a construction crane after a big chunk of its rigging fell onto a cab. Amazingly, the cabbie and passenger were not seriously hurt, even though the front of the cab was insanely crushed (see this picture). The crane itself became unstable, and the workers inside the crane's cab were thrown around, leaving them injured. Police officers had......