Deadly NYC parking garage collapse leads to safety sweep and closure of 4 garages in the city

Building officials concluded that all three levels of the nearly 100-year-old garage either completely or partially collapsed on April 18.

Mary Altaffer/AP

• NYC building officials have inspected 78 buildings so far since the collapse of a three-story parking garage in April.
• Officials closed four NYC parking structures over safety concerns, AP reported.
• They reported finding serious deterioration in garages underneath two Manhattan apartment buildings.

New York City officials are cracking down on the safety of parking garages after the collapse of a nearly 100-year-old structure left one dead earlier this month.

City building officials said they closed down four parking garages in a safety sweep of about 78 structures, the Associated Press reported. Inspections began not long after a three-story garage in lower Manhattan effectively imploded and killed its manager during the April 18 collapse.

"This work was done in the interest of public safety, and out of an abundance of caution," said Andrew Rudansky, spokesperson for the NYC Department of Buildings, according to AP.

"During our sweep of 78 parking structures, we found four locations where structural concerns necessitated areas of the buildings to be immediately vacated," he added.

Of the four parking garages, one is located under a 25-story high-rise apartment building, and another is under an eight-story apartment building. However, officials have said the Manhattan residents don't appear to be at risk. The other two garages are located in Brooklyn in Park Slope and Coney Island,  NBC New York reported.

Underneath the eight-story building in Chinatown, officials said they found "numerous severely deteriorated and rusted steel beams" and evidence of cracking and crumbling concrete, according to NBC. In the 25-story structure in Downtown Manhattan, they reported "extensively corroded, with spalled concrete on the underside of two-floor slab ceilings."

A 2022 mandate required parking structures to be inspected by owners at least every six years, the AP reported. The three-story garage that collapsed hadn't yet completed its inspection at the time of its fall.

While crews work to clear out debris from the fallen garage and inspections continues in New York City, officials told the AP that the four parking structures will remain closed until the safety issues have been resolved.

"These actions were taken by the Department to protect the public, until such time as the building owners can make the necessary repairs," Rudansky said, per the AP. 

 

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