Boston Fire Dept. Photo

A South End townhouse that suffered a serious structural collapse on New Year’s Day was owned by developers Navem Partners and apparently undergoing renovations.

The  fire escape on the 5-story building at 23 Upton St. collapsed into the alley behind the house, according to the Boston Fire Department. Images posted by the BFD on Twitter showed large portions of the rear walls on the second, third and fourth floors missing, as well.

Records filed in the Suffolk Registry of Deeds show that an LLC registered to Navem Partners bought the building in February 2019 for $3.95 million. Universal Hub first reported the connection.

As of this morning, the project was listed on Navem’s website, described as a conversion to three luxury condominiums. The site states construction began in the middle of last year, however the city’s building permit registry only lists a 2015 permit pulled by the previous owner for “emergency repairs to brickwork surrounding the existing window in front of building” and a Jan. 2 permit for emergency repairs following the collapse.

Navem has largely focused on multifamily buildings in Boston, Melrose and Cambridge, including a previously permitted, 114-unit South Boston project it bought in early 2019.

Updated 12:53 p.m., Jan. 3, 2020: An earlier version of this story misstated the location of the building in question. It is located in the South End.