Commercial and residential projects involving deep excavations are common in the Tier I cities of India for last two to three decades. Similar projects involving deep basements are coming up in Tier 2 and 3 cities also. Any project having two or three basements demands deep excavation which needs to be shored or stabilized properly to avoid distress or disturbance to adjoining structures, till the basement wall is constructed. Exposed natural surfaces due to deep excavation need to be retained with a Temporary Earth Retaining Structure (TERS). Selection of a proper TERS is critical for execution of basement construction. A multi-storey commercial complex with three basements was under construction next to one of the main roads of Rajamahendravaram, located on the banks of River Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. The site is bounded by roads present on three sides and a recently built multi-storey residential building on the East. Site is underlain with alluvial soils with no traces of ground water. Open excavation was carried out with near vertical slope for the construction of the basement. Slips occurred majorly on the North and on the East side adjacent to the apartment complex pulling down the compound wall over 30 m. The slip extended nearly 2 m in to the adjacent property endangering the safety of the building and residents. Shoring measures proposed were packer grouting, micropiles, bored piles and prestressed anchors. Initially proposed shoring measures had to be modified on the North–East corner owing to presence of concealed retaining wall that gave away during execution. Paper summarizes the analysis of the failure, measures taken to stabilize the slopes on different sides, problems faced during execution and suitable changes adopted to accomplish the successful completion of the project.