When the apartment building at 5 West 56th Street collapsed in the city on January 26, it was a devastating event for New Yorkers who live in the building.
At the time, there was speculation that it was connected to the collapse of the building that killed more than 200 people, but a coroner’s report did not specify the cause of the collapse.
Now, it is becoming clear that the building was connected by a series of missteps and an unanticipated collapse of one of the buildings closest to the site of the disaster.
But even after the tragedy, the building continues to have many issues, including an apparent lack of fire safety standards and poor ventilation, according to a report by the Department of Buildings and its inspector general.
While a spokesperson for the Department has said that the agency will investigate the building, it hasn’t yet released any information about how it might proceed.
“We will review the report and take appropriate action,” the spokesperson said in an email.
It is unclear whether the building is under the control of the New Yorker Trust, a nonprofit that provides oversight for buildings owned by the New Yorkers Trust.
A spokesperson for New York City said that “the trust is in the process of being formed to oversee the management and operation of the apartment buildings” and that the trust will “conduct a thorough review of the conditions and policies of the complex.”
But the building at 59 West 57th Street remains under the ownership of the trust.
The building’s building superintendent, James O’Brien, said that while he and the owners of the other buildings in the complex had been “deeply saddened” by the collapse, the tenants “have not been asked to vacate or otherwise relocate to other units.”
“We’re working very closely with the tenant and other tenants to make sure that they are aware of what’s happening,” O’Brian told The Verge.
“They’re also being asked to move into units that they may not otherwise be able to live in.”
A spokesperson from the New Republic, the publisher of The New Yorker, said in a statement that the publisher is “reviewing” the report but that “it has not been produced to date.”
O’Reilly Media, which owns the New American Building, declined to comment on the inspector general’s findings.
The report, published on Wednesday, was sent to the New Yorks Department of Building Inspection, which is investigating the building’s fire safety.
The inspector general said that after the collapse on January 25, the inspection department “observed significant deficiencies in fire and sprinkler system performance and maintenance.”
“Additionally, the structural integrity of the apartments was not properly tested and a number of fire hazards were identified,” the inspector wrote.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services, which was responsible for building operations, had not inspected the apartments before the collapse because it was still under construction, the inspector noted.
“Given the severity of the fire, there were insufficient sprinkler systems in the apartments,” the report noted.
The inspectors noted that the apartments were supposed to have sprinklers installed by June 25, but the fire department did not install them until January 28.
While the inspector found the building lacked adequate fire safety protections, the report did find that the owners did not implement appropriate fire-safety plans for the apartments.
The fire department said that when it inspected the buildings, it found that there were no “standard operating procedures” that would have prevented the collapse if the buildings had not collapsed.
A building inspector told The Daily Beast that he and his team “never saw any sprinklers.”
He said that sprinklers are “the last thing on your mind.”
