The wall of a four-story commercial building in Manhattan collapsed Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Surveillance video of the building at Mulberry and Grand streets in SoHo shows the moments a part of the façade came crashing down around 2:30 p.m.


What You Need To Know

  • The wall of a four-story commercial building in SoHo collapsed Wednesday afternoon, officials said

  • The location is where Alleva Dairy once stood. A neighborhood gem in the community, it closed in early 2023 after 130 years in business

  • The Department of Buildings is investigating the situation by shutting down multiple streets, impacting local businesses into the late evening

A plywood wall catching most of the bricks fell, preventing debris from going further onto the sidewalk and the street and leaving a plume of dust behind.

“Our whole patio is shut down. Nobody can get in. We had a few reservations, all of them canceled,” Diego Mogolon, a server from Gelso and Grand, said.

The Department of Buildings is investigating the situation by shutting down multiple streets, impacting local businesses into the late evening.

“I was hoping to, you know, have a good night, and all that I see when I come in is a bunch of police and yellow tape,” Mogolon said.

The location is where Alleva Dairy once stood. A neighborhood gem in the community, it closed in early 2023 after 130 years in business.

The Department of Buildings told NY1 unpermitted gut renovations were underway on the first floor of the commercial building, and the masonry chimney had given way, which led to the collapse.

“You see this a lot. And it’s taking shortcuts like that, which lead to people getting injured, which thank God that didn’t happen over here,” said Tafadar Sourov, field organizer for Laborers’ Local 79, a union representing construction and general building laborers.

He said this does not appear to be a union site.

“I hope this is going to be a lesson to every site where there’s construction happening,” Sourov said. “To follow proper procedures.”

Enforcement actions are pending completion of the investigation.