A new development in the 2019 accidental death of architect Erica Tishman as criminal charges have been filed against property owners 729 Acquisitions LLC.

NBC4 New York is reporting that the administrative code charges were brought by the NYC Department of Buildings. The architect’s family had previously pursued a civil case against the development company, which is managed by Himmel + Meringoff Partners, after claiming the architect’s death was essentially her own fault in an initial liability suit brought against the city.

"It is alleged that even though the defendants had been made aware of the deteriorating façade conditions that posed an immediate danger to the public, they failed to make necessary repairs and failed to install a sidewalk shed in front of the building to protect pedestrians from the unsafe façade conditions," NBC is reporting the DOB to have said.

The management company had been warned several times about the risk of falling pieces of debris to pedestrians, ignoring an order to install a protective shed and eight months before the accident occurred in December 2019. A three-year audit ranging from 2017 to October of last year found 1,966 similarly unaddressed cases around the city according to Crain’s. 

“We will continue to rigorously enforce our city's strong regulations to ensure that owners and other responsible parties live up to their legal responsibility,” DOB spokesman Andrew Rudansky said in July.

Archinect will have more developments as the case unfolds.