Two Downtown Parking Garages Ordered Closed In Wake Of April 18 Collapse
Four garages across the city including two in the downtown area were ordered closed because DOB deemed that they posed an “immediate threat to public safety.” One person was killed and five others injured in the April 18th parking garage collapse on Ann St.
| 01 May 2023 | 02:19
The parking garage collapse on Ann Street on April 18th prompted a city wide inspection of all parking garages and the closure of two in downtown Manhattan. Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
In the wake of the deadly collapse of the parking garage on Ann Street in the Financial District, four other NYC garages have been shuttered to prevent similar disasters.
The Department of Buildings said the garages that were closed posed an “immediate threat to public safety.”
The collapse at the Ann Street garage on April 18 killed the building’s 59-year-old manager, Willis Moore. The Department of Buildings is conducting inspections of garages throughout the city after the Ann Street collapse, and has closed four so far including two in downtown Manhattan.
The structures that have been closed include an eight-story building at 50 Bayard Street in Chinatown and a 25-story high-rise at 225 Rector Place in lower Manhattan, as originally reported by the Associated Press.
Two other garages were affected, both in Brooklyn. One was closed only partially, the other in full.
These buildings must make repairs and pass a further inspection before reopening.
In other developments, a $100 million class action law suit has been filed against the garage owners by two individual, Robert Galpern and Boguslaw Zapolnik alleging “gross negligence and reckless and wanton disregard for human life and property.”
Galpern’s $60,000 Toyota Highlander and Zapolnick’s new $40,000 Mazda CX-5, their attorney Migir Ilganayev told the New York Post.
Elsewhere, Pace University closed down a dormitory that shares a wall with the collapsed garage for the rest of the semester, forcing students to relocate. It also said that a building at 161 William St. that housed offices and classrooms would remain closed for the rest of the semester.
Four other buildings adjacent to the collapsed garage at 57 Ann Street remain evacuated. Demolition work is continuing on the structure.
The funeral for Willis Moore was held April 28th at the Mount Vernon Seventh Day Adventist Church. He had immigrated from Jamaica and has worked for 30 years at the garage where he died on April 18th. He is survived by a fiancé and six children, including one who is an NYPD officer. Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD officers attended the funeral on April 28th.