Part of the roof and an exterior wall gave way Thursday morning at a condemned commercial building on Elm Street in Yonkers, sending debris tumbling while workers were still inside — and forcing residents next door to flee their homes as a precaution. No injuries were reported.
The Yonkers Fire Department was called to 91 Elm St. at around 10:45 a.m. Thursday for a possible partial collapse, according to Daily Voice. Firefighters then determined that the actual collapse was next door at 93 Elm St. The building was unoccupied by residents, but workers were reportedly inside at the time the roof and wall failed. Firefighters were also dispatched to the adjacent 91 Elm St. for a possible partial collapse there as well, though the damage was centered on 93 Elm St.
Loose bricks broke away from the building and tumbled into an adjacent courtyard, according to News 12 Westchester, prompting emergency crews to evacuate neighboring residents as a precaution while the extent of the damage was assessed. The falling masonry from 93 Elm St. is what drove the evacuation of residents at neighboring 91 Elm St., since the two buildings are directly adjacent.
Street Closed Between Palisade and Nepperhan
Local authorities shut down Elm Street to vehicular traffic between Palisade Avenue and Nepperhan Avenue following the collapse, per Yonkers Voice. Crews worked the scene following the collapse.
The Yonkers Building Department has since condemned 93 Elm St. and taken over the scene, with the department set to serve as the lead agency moving forward, per Daily Voice's reporting. Officials are planning an emergency demolition of the structure. The city's Department of Housing and Buildings handles forms and permits, according to the City of Yonkers.
Structural engineers have been brought in to assess whether residents of 91 Elm St. can safely return home. What specific work the crews inside 93 Elm St. were performing when the collapse occurred, and whether structural permits had been issued for that work, remains unclear.
A Building With Decades of Wear
Commercial listings on LoopNet describe 93-95 Elm St. as a three-story, 14,550-square-foot Class C commercial building built in 1970 — a more than 50-year-old structure rather than a residential one. The address sits within Yonkers' Getty Square neighborhood, an area Zillow gives a Walk Score of 93 out of 100, or “Walker's Paradise,” reflecting the dense foot traffic that runs through the district daily.
Thursday's collapse fits a recent pattern of structural failures around the city. In May, a retaining wall collapse behind homes on Leighton Avenue near South Broadway damaged a former commercial building after heavy rainfall, News 12 Westchester reported. A four-alarm fire in Yonkers' School Street neighborhood in January led to a building collapse that displaced roughly 50 residents, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of that fire. The article also references an April 2025 incident on Saw Mill River Road.
Getty Square's building stock remains part of the discussion about Yonkers' development. The city's waterfront and historic downtown district are also part of that discussion. A similar failure is referenced at 9 North Broadway in June 2024.
Following the collapse, the area around Elm Street was closed, and residents of 91 Elm St. are waiting on engineers to determine when — or whether — it's safe to go back inside.
