NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Investigators are said to be looking at the possibility the age and the number of vehicles on a Lower Manhattan parking garage contributed to its deadly collapse this week, officials said Wednesday.
Dozens of vehicles appeared to be parked on the nearly 100-year-old structure before the building pancaked Tuesday, killing a worker.
Members of several city departments returned to the scene Wednesday as the effort to remove the debris begins and the investigation continues.
Six structures surrounding the wrecked garage were vacated as a precaution Wednesday morning as a large crane was moved into place to prepare for an operation at the site, 57 Ann St. in the Financial District.
Among those at scene were dozens of members of the Buildings Department, FDNY and NYPD. They have a lot of work ahead of them to remove all the smashed vehicles and eventually demolish the garage, which has been deemed completely unstable and at risk of further collapse.
Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday that he wants a comprehensive review of the upkeep and if the property owners were keeping up with legally required inspections through an engineer.
Zach Iscol, the emergency response commissioner, said the building will have to come down—but it will be a delicate process with 50 vehicles on the roof. "We're transitioning to how we safely take down that building, and it's incredibly complex," he said.
One parking garage worker was killed and five others injured in Tuesday afternoon's collapse around 4 p.m., when the three-story structure caved in, causing a rumbling and a plume of thick dust.
A witness who works nearby said she heard a "big boom" and saw something "fly across the street," followed by a dust cloud. She then saw a bleeding man "crawling out" of the pancaked garage.
While everyone is believed to have been retrieved from the site, the FDNY will stay there to monitor for issues like fires and search for potential human remains. The department said there will eventually be a controlled demolition.
The property where the collapse occurred had four open violations from the Buildings Department, however there's no way to know at this point if any of them contributed to the collapse.
Among them was a 2003 violation for "failure to maintain building," as well as a 2009 violation for a "loose piece of concrete in danger of falling at various locations," according to the Buildings Department.
At nearby Pace University, students were allowed back into the residence hall late Tuesday night after evening classes had to be canceled. Classes were on schedule at all locations were on schedule Wednesday except for 161 William St., which neighbors the garage.
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