Nesconset partial building collapse leaves 6 injured

Six people were injured, three critically, after the wall of a Nesconset building collapsed Thursday on a team of construction workers.

The victims were taken to Stony Brook University Hospital after the wall on the front of the building at 840 Middle Country Rd., which was being renovated for a car dealership, collapsed about 1:30 p.m., according to Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison.

There were 16 people working at the site when the cinder blocks and front facade fell, Harrison added. Scissor lifts holding up workers taking down the front facade of the building collapsed and fell about two stories, he said. It was not immediately clear what caused the scissor lifts to fall.

"They were taking down brick by brick and the whole front facade came crumbling down and landed on several individuals," Harrison said.

Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were at the scene Thursday investigating the wall collapse.

Members of the Nesconset Fire Department arrived to find a cloud of dust and smoke from the collapse, Chief Frank Ragona said.

Town officials had issued a building permit for construction at the site, according to Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim. Smithtown Town Planner Peter Hans said in a phone interview that a local car dealer, Smith Haven Chrysler Jeep Dodge, had bought the site — formerly home to the Great Oak Marina — to retrofit as a car dealership. 

According to property records, a limited liability company, BTDP, bought the 1.8-acre site in 2019 for $2 million. BTDP shares a Jericho Turnpike address with the car dealership. 

“It’s been an absolutely awful day," Brett Saslow, the dealership owner, said Thursday night. He said he would not comment in detail until an investigation established “how this happened.” 

Saslow praised Mancini Mui, the project's architecture firm, which he said he had used for previous building jobs.

“They’re terrific, they’re reputable," he said. "They always get all the proper paperwork in order.”

Architect Mark Mancini, a Smithtown civic leader and former Chamber of Commerce president, did not immediately respond to a voicemail left at his office. 

Wehrheim said he expected Building Department officials would put a report about the collapse on his desk by Friday morning.

“They will want to see that the plans had been followed and ensure that the contractor was performing the job as he was supposed to,” Wehrheim said.

Suffolk police identified the building contractor that employed the injured workers as Sit Back & Relax Ground Maintenance. Officials with the Brightwaters company could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday night.

Town records show Hauppauge engineer Michael Marinis, of BBV Engineering, won approval May 21, 2021, for a change of use for the site from boat sales to motor vehicle sales and a showroom. That plan included a new 2,549-square-foot building and a 760-square-foot interior mezzanine addition, with other work like facade alterations, parking and vehicle storage modifications.

Marinis could not immediately be reached for comment

The site plan also called for a 13,021-square-foot building that would preserve the 9,712-square-foot building already there.

In a text message, town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said "no one will be working unless they are making the building safe and secure. The Engineer and Architect are developing a plan to stabilize the front of the building. They are allowed to stabilize the building under the direction and supervision of the engineer and architect."

John Gomes, the foreman for Medford-based New Horizon Construction, a company working on the building but whose crew members were not among the injured, said he heard the cinder blocks and scaffolding fall.

“Everyone came out and we saw three guys bleeding on the ground,” Gomes said. “Nobody wants to see that. Everybody was working together like a team. We work the same kind of business. It can happen to us too.” 

Gomes said the demolition crew fell about 20 feet off the mechanical lifts.

"Three of them looked really bad and some could not even move," Gomes said.