Midtown parking garage partially collapses

UPDATED, July 8, 2020, 2:59 p.m.: A five-story parking garage in Murray Hill partially collapsed on Wednesday afternoon.

A spokesperson for the city’s Department of Buildings said its inspectors “were called to the scene at 205 East 38th Street, Manhattan, to investigate reports of a partial façade collapse.” The  inspectors found that a 45-by-10-foot section of bricks collapsed from the parapet level of the garage’s façade onto the sidewalk.

The agency said one injury was reported and two parked cars were damaged by the falling bricks.

The DOB ordered the property owner — which records show is Antarctica Infrastructure Partners — to immediately install a sidewalk shed. The agency’s investigation is still ongoing.

Manhattan | 205 E 38th St.
FDNY using all hands for a partial building collapse of a 5-story vacant parking garage.

— New York City 911 (@NYC_Alerts911) July 8, 2020

Antarctica did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The property was issued a violation in September 2019 for failing to correct defects in the elevator, according to DOB’s website. The building currently has seven open violations related to the elevator.

The collapse is the second to rock New York City in the last week. A building that housed a Body Elite Gym collapsed in Brooklyn last week, injuring no one.

A partial stop-work order had been issued at the Brooklyn property, because a brick wall was “dangerously bulging” over the sidewalk, according to the DOB. That building had violations related to cracks in the building’s facade in November 2019. Agency inspectors and engineers are investigating the cause of that collapse.