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Construction
New York

City suspends engineer of collapsed Bronx building

Veteran facades inspector agreed to two-year ban, $10K fine

City Suspends Engineer of Collapsed Bronx Building
Richard Koenigsberg of Koenigsberg Engineering and 1915 Billingsley Terrace in the Morris Heights (Koenigsberg Engineering, Getty)

New York City permanently suspended the engineer who inspected an apartment building in the Bronx that partially collapsed in December.

Mayor Eric Adams announced the two-year suspension of Richard Koenigsberg following an agreement between the two sides, Crain’s reported. The voluntary suspension is accompanied by a $10,000 fine for the veteran facade inspector. 

The city previously issued a temporary suspension after the incident and was at the time seeking to permanently revoke his permission to inspect. 

Koenigsberg was seemingly caught off guard by the announced agreement and declined to comment to Crain’s. His firm’s website details a lengthy record of projects, including work on Hotel Chelsea.

The inspector will need to wind down his city projects over the next four months. Any facade inspections will be reviewed by a third-party engineer.

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In mid-December, the seven-story, 46-unit property at 1915 Billingsley Terrace in the borough’s Morris Heights section partially crumbled in the middle afternoon, displacing hundreds of residents. The collapse didn’t cause any fatalities, though some minor injuries were reported.

Many of those who were displaced have moved back in, but others can’t and have sued building ownership. David Kleiner and his associate Yonah Roth are listed as owners in the lawsuit, though notorious landlord Jacob Zanger also pops up as an owner in public records.

The Department of Buildings, the Bronx district attorney’s office and the city’s Department of Investigation are still investigating the cause of the collapse. As part of Koenigsberg’s agreement with the city, he admits no guilt and the DOB will limit future charges.

The DOB audited all of 368 filings submitted by the engineer last year as part of the facade inspection and safety program. The results of that audit haven’t been released.

The DOB is evaluating its regulation of private experts for handling facade inspections in the city to decide if registration requirements should be strengthened.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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Department of BuildingsRichard Koenigsberg
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Building Collapse