NYC DOB: More Parking Garages Need Repairs in Wake of Fatal Collapse

The Dept. of Buildings has determined 61 garages are potentially in need of immediate fixes

The New York City Fire Dept. Incident Management Team continues to assist at Ann Street parking garage collapse as clean up and removal of cars continue.

*Photo via FDNY twitter*

Dozens of New York City buildings with parking garages potentially need immediate repair due to structural concerns, according to an inspection report by the city’s Dept. of Buildings, which comes a week after a deadly parking garage collapse in Manhattan.

Following the April 18 garage collapse at 57 Ann St. that left one man dead and injured five others, DOB began reviewing records of structures with parking facilities, and identified 61 properties that have open "class one" violations, meaning they have hazards that "warrant immediate corrective action," according to the city.

But while the violations are related to a failure to maintain the building, and specifically note structural conditions, it's unclear if all of those violations are specifically related to the buildings' parking garages, says Andrew Rudansky, NYC Dept. of Buildings spokesperson.

“After identifying 61 buildings around the city that have both parking structures and also violations for structural issues," Rudansky told ENR, "we are now looking to determine whether any of the cited structural issues are directly related to the parking structure.”

The April 18 fatal collapse killed garage manager Willis Moore, 59, and injured five others. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has opened an investigation into the collapse. The demolition of the parking garage structure is expected to take several weeks.

The building’s advanced age and an excess of vehicles on the roof also contributed to the collapse, the New York City Fire Department said.

Abundance of Caution

DOB has not received any reports that the locations are structurally unstable, but are conducting field inspections of every location out of an abundance of caution, Rudansky said.

Another 140 locations had class one violations for non-structural issues ranging from blocked egress, work without a permit, and issues related to illegal outdoor advertising signs.

DOB field inspections are expected to help determine whether any previously cited conditions are related specifically to the parking structure, whether those conditions have been repaired and whether there are any new concerns that have arisen since the city's last inspection, Rudansky said.

There are approximately 4,000 parking structures in New York City that are under DOB’s jurisdiction. They include commercial parking structures that occupy the entire building, and also accessory parking facilities associated with residential and office buildings. Of that total, 1,414 are located inside of Manhattan, Rudansky said.

Meanwhile, the probe continues into the collapse of the nearly century-old structure at 57 Ann St., between Nassau and Williams streets, which also had several unresolved violations going back as far as 2003, according to an update provided by the office of Mayor Eric Adams. DOB inspectors had reported cracked concrete, loose concrete and other hazardous violations during those past inspections.