More NYC parking garages have structural flaws, need immediate fix, official says
Dozens of sites with parking garages have potentially dangerous structural flaws that require immediate fixing, the Buildings Department’s top official told The Post on Tuesday – a week after a deadly collapse in Manhattan.
City inspectors did a sweep and identified roughly 4,000 garages currently being used across the five boroughs, after the Financial District parking deck disaster that left one dead and five others injured, said acting Department of Buildings Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik.
At least 61 of the locations currently have open Class 1 violations against them for failing to maintain the buildings, the DOB said.
Class 1 violations are described by the city as “immediately hazardous” and ones that “warrant immediate corrective action.”
“We currently reviewed garage records and identified garages with Class 1 violations,” Vilenchik said, adding that such infractions are “related to structural stability or structural issues.”
“With that, we are going to send out inspectors to verify conditions of those garages.”
While the department hasn’t received reports that any of those locations are structurally unstable, it says inspectors are currently examining them out of an abundance of caution.
The DOB warned that the list of 61 locations is subject to change, adding that it is yet to be determined if the violations are tied directly to the parking structures or other parts of the building.
The locations include both commercial parking structures and parking facilities that only take up parts of residential or commercial buildings.
Vilenchik did not provide a timeline for when the safety checks would be completed but vowed that “certain garages are to be inspected by the end of this year.”
He spoke after a briefing on last week’s fatal collapse, a presser that included Mayor Eric Adams.
Officials are still probing the cause of the April 18 collapse of 57 Ann St., which killed garage manager Willis Moore and left several others briefly trapped beneath the concrete-and-steel wreckage.
The working theory, according to an FDNY internal memo, is that the three-story garage likely crumbled under the weight of too many vehicles on the roof.
The building’s advanced age also likely contributed, the memo said.
The Post revealed last week that the building housing the parking garage had a slew of open violations against it, as well as a lengthy history of structural issues requiring repairs — including 11-foot-long cracks discovered in the walls.
“Yes, the parking garage had open violations … relating back to 2003-2004,” Vilenchik said Tuesday.
The cracks violation was flagged in a 2009 summons issued by the DOB against the property’s owners, records obtained by The Post show.
In response, the owners were asked to hire an outside engineer to assess the damage and come up with a laundry list of required repairs.
The repair permits were then lodged with the DOB by the owners in 2010, but it’s unclear if the work was ever finished because they never filed the required paperwork showing they had corrected the violations.
“We do not have final Certificate of Corrections for those violations,” Vilenchik said.
“There is a good indication that those issues were repaired,” he added, without elaborating on how DOB would know that.
It remains unclear if any of the defects or failures found by inspectors could have contributed to the structure’s eventual collapse.
The DOB boss said officials would be reviewing aspects of the current laws surrounding violations in the wake of the collapse to “make sure owners are more responsible in doing maintenance regularly.”
He did not mention specifics.
“At the end of the day, maintenance of the building, maintenance of the property, is the responsibility of the owners. We’re going to continue doing our routine inspections of all the building — we will do our part,” he said.
Vilenchik spoke after Adams and FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh held the press conference to show off the robot dog, drones and other technology used to survey the rubble of the parking wreckage and assist in the ongoing cleanup.
At one point, Hizzoner praised the use of the FDNY’s Dalmatian robo dog — named “Bergh” — after it was deployed to search for survivors when the wreck was deemed too dangerous.
“Some people call them toys,” Adams said of those who have criticized the cost of the robotics.
“This is not play time, this is real time. And this is an administration that is not going to be fearful.”
“That’s why we invest in technology, so we do not have to send in human beings inside unstable buildings,” he said.
