‘Controlled demolition’ now planned for collapsed lower Manhattan parking garage that killed one
Thomas Tracy| New York Daily News
A “controlled demolition” is now planned for the century-old lower Manhattan parking garage that collapsed, killing one, after first responders painstakingly remove cars and debris from the site, FDNY officials said Wednesday.
While no one is believed to be trapped or unaccounted for at the four-story Ann St. garage following Tuesday’s collapse, the FDNY will continue to have a presence at the site to put out any potential fires and search for any possible human remains, a department official said.
All utilities to the building were shut off as preparations for the demolition were made, city officials said.
The first phase of the demolition will be the removal of the vehicles that were in the garage when the top floor pancaked down on the levels below, officials said.
The upper floors packed with cars crumbled, sending vehicles into the void below, jaw-dropping photos taken from adjacent buildings show.
One person was killed and seven people suffered minor injuries in the 4 p.m. collapse. A handful of the injured were garage parking attendants, officials said.
Forensic engineers will conduct a study but it’s believed the weight of the vehicles left on the roof deck and the age of the building contributed to the collapse, a source with knowledge of the incident said.
Buildings Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik said Tuesday his inspectors will “continuously review and research property profiles to understand the history of the building, certificate of occupancy, and all other records.”
City records show building owners paid fines on code violations but the DOB did not register a fix to four open violations between 2003 and 2013. Sixteen other violations filed against the building over the last three decades were marked as “resolved,” according to city records.
In 2003, the Buildings Department cited the owners for “failure to maintain [building] hazardous” and noted “first floor ceiling slab cracks” and “missing concrete covering steel beams.” Inspectors also found “defective concrete with exposed rear cracks.”
That same year, the Buildings Department discovered the building did not have proper lighting by exits and in emergency stairwells.
In 2009, building owners were accused of having “broken and defective fire stairs” and “defective exits.” The southwest side of the building was “rotten” with “loose pieces of concrete in danger of falling,” the violation noted.
The Buildings Department cited the owners for not keeping the building up to code and for having inadequate doorways and exits in 2013.
There are two additional open violations for minor defects found during periodic elevator inspections but those defects would not jeopardize a person’s safety, a Buildings Department spokesman said.
Attempts to reach the owners of the building were unsuccessful Wednesday.
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