28 Comments
The projected second phase of the Manhattanville campus.
According to Columbia Public Safety, a building in the heart of Manhattanville collapsed this morning with a construction crew still inside. The collapsed structure, The Pearl Green building on 131st street, is located in front of the Columbia-owned Studebaker building, on the block between between Tuck-It-Away Storage and Fairway.
In a brief email, Ricardo Morales, Public Safety’s Manager of Crime Prevention Programs, reports, “Crew members have been rescued, but it appears other crew still trapped. Possible injuries.” Public Safety, Public Affairs, and Manhattanville reps have not yet responded for comment.
So far, the major demolition work for the Mville expansion has been between 129th Street and 131st street, and the projected development plan for the campus suggests that The Pearl Green building is one of the properties slated for construction work. However, we cannot yet confirm that crew working in Manhattanville this morning is affiliated with Columbia’s construction.
We will continue to update you as we learn more.
Updates: DNAinfo reports that the building was purchased by Columbia last month and is part of the Manhattanville expansion.
The New York Daily News reports that one worker was killed and two more injured in the collapse. They also have pictures of the aftermath.
Spec reports that the construction company—Breeze National—has mob connections and had gotten in trouble with the Department of Buildings twice earlier this month. The New York Times reports that the company is so corrupt that the City of New York refuses to do business with it.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time a construction worker has been killed at a Breeze National construction site. Last February, a worker fell off a different building that the company was constructing for Columbia in Manhattanville.
Loading …
28 Comments
@Anonymous I knew the mob wouldn’t go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed the line.
@Anonymous What happened today was absolutely terrible and my heart goes out to everyone who knew the three workers. However, protesting or blaming Columbia are only quick and temporary fixes to this massive problem. What the industry really needs is a fundamental shift in the callous attitude towards safety that workers and managers seem to share. It’s so deeply ingrained in the industry, it would take a massive effort to make noticeable changes. A much better use of our time would be sending our brain power to organizations trying to raise worker awareness of safety!
~Civil Engineer who spent last summer researching construction safety.
@Anonymous How could anyone downvote this?
@Anonymous that was supposed to be a reply to the comment above, but when I messed up the evilly difficult captcha the website somehow converted it to a normal post
@Anonymous the greatest condolences and solidarity to those affected. truly horrible.
maybe it’s time that the Columbia community did something about this, a little more than clicking the green thumbs up. there’s an occupation of a building slated for demolition happening right now on 125th street. i wonder what’s happening on the other side of your computer screen.
@Anonymous Columbia Inc. knows how to buffer responsibility and will likely blame someone else for this tragedy. Ultimately they are doing this and nothing gets done without thier approval. They will wiggle out of this but they are RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE DEATHS.
@Anonymous I just watched an interview with the man’s wife. She is completely devastated, my heart goes out to her and his family. It is sad that people can be more concerned with profit than with the life of another person.
@CC'12 protestors are anticipated this afternoon.
@what exactly was being done to the building? did it fall on its own (blighted?) or was it caused by construction people?
@also the article states the construction worker has mob ties. something fishy? maybe King Range was no longer loyal to the fam
@Anonymous one of the articles said a worker cut an important structural beam and that it immediately collapsed afterwards.
@Breeze National does cut corners They received two Class-1 citations (the most severe the NYC building authority gives out) for this project already:
They didn’t register the demolition, aka tell the city they were going to do it…
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/ECBQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=2&ecbin=34940632J
And this one’s too jargony for me to figure out, but it’s also the most severe…
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/ECBQueryByNumberServlet?requestid=2&ecbin=34940628R
Both of these were in the month of March for the building that just collapsed.
@: ( Deeply troubling. I hope the march/protest today is respectful of this. https://www.facebook.com/events/339481179422996/
@Anonymous So sad. Wishing the best for the workers and their families.
@Anonymous one worker has died and 2 others are in st lukes
@unions bosses “sweeeeet”
@Anonymous A worker was crushed to death this morning and two others were injured after a building collapsed in Harlem, authorities said.
The construction workers were demolishing the one-story building at 608 West 130 Street near Broadway at 7:51 a.m. when the accident occurred, police said.
The building, which is owned by Columbia University, is part of a plan on the part of the Ivy League school to expand across a section of upper Manhattan.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/one_dead_injured_in_harlem_building_SSJaXtlj5D7Ae3BFTRvMhI#ixzz1prNbyYOa
@Sara A worker was crushed to death this morning and two others were injured after a building collapsed in Harlem, authorities said.
The construction workers were demolishing the one-story building at 608 West 130 Street near Broadway at 7:51 a.m. when the accident occurred, police said.
The building, which is owned by Columbia University, is part of a plan on the part of the Ivy League school to expand across a section of upper Manhattan.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/one_dead_injured_in_harlem_building_SSJaXtlj5D7Ae3BFTRvMhI#ixzz1prNbyYOa
@PrezBo “Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided, but by iron and blood.”
@CC81 This happens for cutting corners, give out the job to the cheapest bid and you force the construction companies to cut corners at the expense of worker safety. This is the second time in 2 years a worker dies within this expansion.
@Anonymous This is because they were forced to hire inexperienced women and minority construction crews.
@Anonymous First line of the NYDailyNews link:
“A construction worker employed by a demolition company with mob ties was killed Thursday and two others were fighting for their lives after part of a Harlem building they were dismantling suddenly crashed down on them, authorities said.”
I doubt the mob gives a fuck about fair employment laws. If this is true it definitely counts as cutting corners.
@Anonymous Terrible news. Thoughts go out to their families.
@Anonymous According to other news sources, this was a non Columbia affiliated building.
@Anonymous This sounds awful, hopefully more details will emerge soon.
Best wishes to all the workers.
@gothamist has more info http://gothamist.com/2012/03/22/building_collapse_on_130th_street_n.php
@cc'12 thinking of those affected–i’m so sorry this happened. hope you’re okay.
@Anonymous shitstorm coming