New Orleans Businesses Search for Answers After Building Collapse

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(TNS) — As crews rushed to stabilize a historic O’Keefe Avenue building on Monday after its façade tumbled to the ground over the weekend, shocking tenants and neighbors, the building’s owners remained in the dark about what caused the sudden collapse.

There was no indication that the 156-year old structure was unsound until hundreds of bricks crumbled off of the three-story building on Saturday night, said Miranda Restovic, executive director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, which owns the mixed-use building.

Crews immediately began to shore up the building on Saturday night and said that work was “substantially complete” by Monday, Restovic said.

But the impacts of the partial collapse are likely to continue reverberating through the neighborhood, with busy O’Keefe Avenue set to be blocked off for at least two weeks and at least one lane likely to remain closed after that, according to Zachary Gremillion, the New Orleans Fire Department’s chief of fire prevention. Businesses on the street must remain closed until further notice, Gremillion said.

The closure of a major Central Business District artery comes as crews are rushing to complete roadwork on a number of other streets in the neighborhood ahead of hosting Super Bowl LIX downtown in February.

On Monday, a sprawling collection of metal and plastic barriers and long ribbons of police tape kept pedestrians and vehicles off of several blocks surrounding the building. Crews had removed most of the bricks from the sidewalk but large cracks were visible up and down its exterior.

“The emergency aspect is resolved,” said Greg Abry, whose contracting firm, Abry Brothers, installed vertical jacks along the exterior of the building on Sunday. Crews planned to install diagonal shoring on Monday and Tuesday and then move onto installing supports on the floor system and roof framing, Abry said. Woodward Design+Build has been contracted to handle the longer-term repairs, said Restovic.

What caused the collapse?

The palazzo-style former German social hall, constructed in 1868, serves as the office of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and the Helis Foundation John Scott Center, a 6000-square-foot art museum and community center displaying over 50 pieces by the New Orleans-born artist.

It is also home to office spaces leased by a number of law firms, a travel agency, and a realty office, among others.

While crews were still investigating what caused the building’s tumble, Abry said that it’s not uncommon for older buildings to deteriorate over time.

The building is made of “bricks and mortar,” Abry said. “It’s the type of building material no one would build foundations and walls and pilasters out of now.”

Still Abry said that the extent of the building failure was “unusual.” “It’s not something that happens regularly,” Abry said.

The building has undergone phases of renovations over years, said Restovic, whose organization purchased it in 2000. Most recently, in January of this year, the organization applied for a permit to conduct restoration of all façades of the building, including painting, and repair to masonry, stucco and brickwork.

That work has been underway by construction firm Cypress Building Conservation, according to Restovic. The firm did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration, which approved a permit for the renovation in April.

Restovic said that work has gone smoothly and that the sudden collapse came as a shock. Given the building’s age, she added, she has taken preemptive steps over the years to ensure that it is structurally sound, including hiring engineers to inspect the building.

“There’s been a lot of attempts to make sure that we are doing the right thing here,” said Restovic.

‘It’s entirely out of our control’

Though the collapse didn’t damage any of the museum’s artwork, handlers will begin moving art that may be in harm’s way to a safer part of the building or to a storage facility, once Abry’s firm gives the all clear. That will likely be within the next couple of days, Restovic said.

She said she appreciated the patience of the building’s other tenants and its neighbors, and that her organization wants to ensure “things get back to normal as quickly as possible for them.”

For one neighbor, Michael Gulotta, owner of Maypop restaurant, which sits directly across the street from the collapsed building, a return to normalcy can’t come soon enough.

The restaurant was forced to close abruptly on Saturday night when the building’s bricks began falling onto the street with loud thuds, and its exterior walls began cracking and shifting.

“This is our busiest time of year. This is when we’re supposed to be making our money,” said Gulotta.

Gremillion said that the business owners would be updated on Tuesday on whether or not they can reopen.

If the restaurant is required to stay closed for more than a week, the loss could put them out of business, Gulotta said.

“You can’t just close — restaurants don’t work that way,” said Gulotta. “And it’s entirely out of our control.”