New York City’s Law Department filed criminal charges against a building owner who it alleges paid no heed to warnings about a crumbling facade that killed a two-year-old child last year.
City officials said that Esplanade Venture Partnership and its principal, Alexander Scharf, disregarded city maintenance laws that require the exterior of buildings taller than six stories be regularly inspected by a licensed professional. Scharf could face a fine of up to $25,000, a year in jail, or both.
An engineer, Maqsood Faruqi, also faces charges. The city alleges that he signed off on the building's safety without actually inspecting it.
City officials said that despite receiving a recommendation to repair cracks, Esplanade made only the most basic repairs and ignored the rest of the building's disintegrating exterior. Officials intend for the charges to remind other building owners of their legal responsibility to maintain buildings.
Related Stories
Codes and Standards | Aug 11, 2021
Decentralized approach to codes means emissions reduction responsibility falls on local officials
Efficiency advocates focusing more on local code amendments.
Codes and Standards | Aug 10, 2021
Dept. of Energy issues model energy code determinations for commercial, residential buildings
2021 IECC offers 9.4% site energy savings.
Digital Twin | Aug 9, 2021
Digital Twin Maturity white paper offers guidance on digital twin adoption
Provides lifecycle map and an approach for incorporating digital twins.
Codes and Standards | Aug 5, 2021
Contractors can be liable for building failures many years after project completion
Personal injury suits could be brought decades after substantial completion.
Codes and Standards | Aug 4, 2021
Mass timber is a natural choice for building recycling through deconstruction
Designing wood buildings to optimize recovery of materials for disassembly aids carbon sequestration.
Codes and Standards | Aug 3, 2021
Dept. of Energy releases initial version of the Spawn of EnergyPlus software
Targets new use cases in advanced controls, district systems, and grid integration.
Codes and Standards | Aug 2, 2021
Several U.S. cities among most expensive places to build in the world
San Francisco, New York, and Boston head the domestic list.
Codes and Standards | Jul 28, 2021
American Concrete Institute creates new director of innovative concrete technology post
Aim is to attract emerging technologies for development.
Codes and Standards | Jul 28, 2021
Higher ed faces infrastructure backlog of $112.3 billion
Study recommends integrated strategic planning for best results.
Codes and Standards | Jul 27, 2021
Add a wobbly moon to flooding risk factors
Earth satellite’s orbit variations will lead to sunny-day flooding in the mid-2030s.