Bulletin: North Avenue Building Collapse
Bricks fell off this North Avenue building to the sidewalk below, directly across from the city's main train station. The top of the parapet on the left collapsed and the building's condition led Emergency Management Coordinator Sheldon Green to call for its demolition.
The building was already marked by firefighters years ago as unsafe to enter (note the square symbol).
Green said the building is privately owned, the owner may have just walked away from it as it became too expensive to repair. The sidewalk has recently been blocked as portions of a marquee came loose.
Utility workers were cutting off connections prior to the demolition.
This building to the right of the endangered one was evacuated.
Numerous police cars and the Mobile Command center were at the site. North Avenue was blocked off between Watchung Avenue and Gavett Place.
Oveter's Construction brought heavy equipment to carry out the demolition.More later!
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 12:39 PM
9 Comments:
Whoa! I just took pictures yesterday of where part of the roof in the front fell. Now this. With the back crumbing away for years, they should have done something long ago.
great pics bernice.
Thats a historic building the city should take it down brick by brick and store it so they can rebuild the building
Proceed with caution. I hope they are studying how the building was constructed and whether they dealing with party walls!
Is the building in tax default? I am sure the city can sue the owner for the demolition costs.
This is a terrible shame! I have been watching the building and this prime block for years and worrying something like this would happen.
For Plainfielders who are interested in preserving what is left and having a hand in good development, this Saturday is a unique opportunity to influence the future development and design of the Plainfield City Center and Netherwood Train Station areas and maybe a new Train Village Center in the west part of town.
The Vision Study Workshop will be on Saturday March 27 from 9:00 to 3:00 at the Washington Elementary School, 427 Darrow Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060-2097
RSVP to Jacques Howard or Jeanette Aparicio at 908-226-2513
Is the building going to collaspe or did just some loose brick fall off? Is Mr Green an engineer? or is this another knee jerk reaction by the City. The building is in an historical district and the HPC has to authorize its demise. I doubt a real engineer inspected the building. Stuff like this happens in NYC and they don't tear down the whole building. Tearing this building down could cause issues for the adjacent ones again has an structural engineer (not a building inspector) made an inspection. Can the building be saved by simply removing the loose brick?
How come the City didn't go after the owner? They go after every poor homeowner for cracks in their sidewalk.
This is another example how anti historical preservation this current city administration is.
This building is like Plainfield's future......crumbling
Oveter Construction- that's Oliver Brown's company out of East Orange, isn't it? Waiting for an the inevitable "emergency" allows city hall to avoid competitive bidding and award sweatheart contract at inflated price. Cost of demoliton will become a lien against property and unlikely to be paid off until property sold, assuming it sells for more than any prior superior liens.
As a longtime commuter, I thought that building was an eyesore. It's no wonder that it finally collapsed. The owner should be sued for neglect in leaving the building derelict and not maintaining it.
The taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for this!
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