Developer Avoided Stricter Oversight Before Fatal Building Collapse

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By winning approval for a three-story building, then seeking to add more stories, the Brooklyn developer was not subject to the more rigorous oversight required for larger projects.

Developer Avoided Stricter Oversight Before Fatal Building Collapse

By winning approval for a three-story building, then seeking to add more stories, the Brooklyn developer was not subject to the more rigorous oversight required for larger projects.

A site on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn was under construction when a neighboring building collapsed.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times

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· 7:58 min

Nov. 13, 2026

New York City officials on Friday were examining whether a developer’s desire to construct a taller building in Brooklyn than had initially been approved factored in the fatal collapse of a neighboring structure earlier this week.

Records show that the city signed off on plans for a three-story, eight-unit construction project at 2625 Bedford Avenue in the Flatbush neighborhood in March 2026. But other filings reveal that, from as far back as November 2025, the developer had intended to build something much larger: It ultimately sought approval for a nine-story building with 64 apartments, a 9,000-square-foot community space and a grocery store.

The city had not approved the more ambitious plans by Wednesday, when the more than 96-year-old building next door collapsed into the construction site, killing eight people, injuring 18 more and leaving dozens displaced.

“We have approved plans for a three-story building,” Ahmed Tigani, the commissioner of the Buildings Department, said at a news conference on Friday. But, he added, “The nine-story plan is something they seek, not what they have approval for.”

The difference between the two projects could be a key to understanding what went wrong, building experts said. The developer, a limited-liability company tied to the real estate investor Robert Fischman, was excavating the Bedford Avenue site when the building fell.

Neither Mr. Fischman nor other representatives of the development company could be reached for comment on Friday, despite visits to their homes and phone calls.

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