Skeletal remains found in basement of abandoned NYC building after ominous ‘violation’ notice

A construction worker found human skeletal remains inside the basement of a crumbling, long-vacant Queens building — months after a city-issued violation noted the entryway needed to be sealed, cops said.

The NYPD was notified of the chilling discovery just before 2 p.m. Monday inside the condemned building on Jamaica Avenue near 120th Street in Richmond Hill, authorities said.

Police could not confirm whether a full body was recovered. It was unclear how the person had died.

The building — which neighbors say has been vacant for more than two decades — was slapped with a Department of Buildings violation Nov. 14 for failure to seal up the basement doors’ opening to secure against unauthorized access and safeguard the public.

An earlier complaint raised concerns about the basement “caving in,” with rodents escaping — and calls for action “before someone gets hurt.”

Another complaint notes that the “entire top” of the deteriorating structure is “caved all the way in and is visible from the train that rides past.”

The basement area of a long-vacant Queens building, where human skeletal remains were discovered. Dennis A. Clark

The skeletal remains were discovered just before 2 p.m. Monday in the basement of the building on Jamaica Avenue near 120th Street in Richmond Hill. Peter Gerber

The crumbling structure has a now-shuttered commercial space on the ground floor, with two residential floors above.

A neighboring building owner who identified himself as Mike R. told The Post Tuesday that the structure where the body was found was boarded up 23 years ago – when he took ownership of his own property.

Mike, who doesn’t live in his own building but visits frequently – said that he had his suspicions about the empty structure for at least five years, when he smelled a putrid odor emanating from it.

“I was passing by there and I was smelling something foul,” Mike said. “This was between 5 to 7 years ago.”

When cops showed up on Monday to investigate the skeletal remains, Mike said he told them about the odor he’d smelled years ago.

“I am not surprised because I smelled something and they didn’t respond to me,” he said. “It was heavy so you know it wasn’t a cat. It was something bigger.”

One man told The Post he heard the commotion Monday afternoon, but by the time he went outside to see what was going on, the bones had been taken away.

“They did it quietly,” the 35-year-resident said of the removal, adding that the unsettling find “got to me.”

“Things happen here but you just don’t hear about it,” he said.

The neighbor said the building owner told him the space has been unoccupied for 25 years.

“The building had a fast food joint [on the ground floor] — a chicken place there, then they had a deli,” the man said.

“They had tenants on top,” he added. “The building caught fire and they never fixed it, so it was empty all these years.”

The building where the remains were found has been shuttered for more than two decades. Peter Gerber

“They used to do a lot of drugs in this area. It could be a squatter — who knows.”

On Tuesday morning, the ground floor of the building was boarded up with a wooden wall painted green, chained and padlocked, with two Department of Buildings work permits in clear view.

“The building’s facade is cracked up the side to the top, [with] visible space between the bricks,” the complaint states. “This building is attached to a residential building with tenants residing there. The building is obviously crumbling from the inside out and needs to be inspected asap.”

A nearby deli worker who would only give his first name, Noel, said his business has been open for 11 years — and during that time, he never saw any residents at the shuttered building.

“[The construction workers] started working there about a week ago,” said Noel, 40. “They should be here already but I don’t see anybody today.”

He said he never caught a glimpse of the remains.

“I saw the police but I didn’t go to look,” Noel said. “I didn’t know what it was but I knew it was something big because there were a lot of police. After that I heard there were bones there.”

Days before the disturbing find, Essam Jnoosh, a nearby barber and stylist, said workers put up the green wall and carried out trash from the building, packed in black bags, into a dumpster.

“I didn’t like the building because it was in front of my business,” Jnoosh said. “I wanted to see it clean and neat, not something broken down.”

The dumpster was no longer there Tuesday.

Brian Lakhan, 25, a benefits specialist for an insurance company who has lived across the street from the rundown building for the past nine years, said he was watching from his window when police responded.

“I saw them coming out with little plastic bags. I thought they found cats,” Lakhan said. “That’s what was in my head. When I saw the medical examiner, I realized it was more serious and I came outside.”

“I was shocked,” he added. “Imagine living across the street from a building where they are removing human bones?”

Lakhan said he hopes that the building gets taken down.

“It’s like a junk car taking up parking on the street and nobody likes it,” he said.