By Sophia Chang
The company was “one of three different parties that received two violations as a result” of the collapse of a third-story balcony at a luxury apartment complex under construction at 9718 Fort Hamilton Parkway in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, said Jennifer Givner, a city Department of Buildings spokeswoman.
The Buildings Department said the initial construction plans for the balcony, which were filed and approved by the agency, indicated that the balconies would be recessed into the exterior wall.
“But they were in fact extended,” Givner said, meaning that the full weight of the balconies needed more support than recessed balconies required and that the plans provided for.
Big Apple's business address is listed as 218-03 43rd Ave., a residential neighborhood. The company's owner is listed as Kang Yeon Lee and the firm has not received other violations from the city in the past, according to Givner. Calls to Big Apple were not answered.
Workers were pouring concrete on a balcony on the complex's third floor when one side support, a cantilevered steel support beam, gave way. The balcony partially collapsed onto the second-story balcony underneath, which then also partially collapsed in a domino effect, Givner said.
The collapse sent an undocumented immigrant worker supposedly named Angelo Segoria and the other workers tumbling down some 30 feet, according to The New York Times.
Segoria was pronounced dead at Victory Memorial Hospital and Jose Fernandez and Bac Gumyul were hospitalized at Lutheran Medical Center, Newsday reported. Fernandez, 20, was released on Friday in good condition, and Gumyul was in stable condition, according to Neal Gorman, a hospital spokesman.
The Buildings Department has cited Big Apple with a violation for work without a permit – the agency's records show that the firm's construction permit expired in February – and another violation for work not conforming to plans, Givner said. All construction work has been halted while investigation is pending.
“On Friday, that third balcony had been removed from the building, and we were examining that and three other balconies that were constructed similarly,” she said. “We're doing a top-to-bottom building inspection right now, just to see what else there might be, basically comparing plans to actual construction.”
While the DOB violations may carry fines of $2,500 each, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney said the office was also conducting an investigation along with police, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Buildings Department. He said the DA may press criminal charges against Big Apple as well as building owner Marine Partners LLC of Yonkers and subcontracting firm Pro-Weld Fabricators of Brooklyn.
Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
