‘Negligent’ engineer whose botched inspection led to NYC apartment building collapse agrees to fine, ban

A “negligent” engineer whose errors led to the collapse of a seven-story Bronx apartment building agreed to pay a $10,000 fine — and serve a two-year city inspection ban, authorities said Thursday.

Professional engineer Richard Koenigsberg’s firm allegedly goofed by incorrectly listing which pillars were decorative and which were needed to hold up the nearly century-old Billingsley Terrace in Morris Heights, according to Mayor Eric Adams’ office.

“Public safety is our administration’s top priority, and the signing of today’s agreement should serve as a reminder to all construction professionals about the importance of carrying out their duties professionally, competently, and, most importantly, safely,” Adams said in a statement.

The city first suspended Koenigsberg’s inspection authority shortly after the Dec. 11 partial collapse, which miraculously didn’t kill anyone.

At the time, Adams said in a statement that a then-unidentified state-licensed engineer made a critical error by labeling a load-bearing column as decorative in plans filed with the Department of Buildings.

Adams and Buildings Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said that they had suspended the engineer’s authority to inspect buildings’ exterior walls and wanted to revoke it permanently, as he had “no business assessing the exterior walls of buildings in New York City.”