'Incredibly Complex' Operation at Site of Deadly Downtown Garage Collapse

On Ann Street, a car is plucked from the ruins of a parking garage that partially collapsed on Tuesday, killing one worker and injuring four others. Photo: Milo Hess

Following the collapse of an Ann Street parking garage on Tuesday that killed one worker and injured four others, demolition teams began the arduous and potentially dangerous task of removing the wrecked vehicles from the 98-year-old structure and demolishing it. 

“Right now, we’re transitioning to how we safely take down that building, and it’s incredibly complex,” NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol said on Wednesday. “There’s over 50 cars on the roof. The building is not structurally sound. You think about hazardous materials that are in the garage, right? Gas tanks, fluids, further complicated by the fact that there are possibly some electric vehicles in that garage.”

On Wednesday, officials had yet to determine the source of the collapse of the 57 Ann Street building, but the weight of the vehicles on the roof and the age of the building are reportedly seen as potential causes. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said it would investigate the cause of the collapse.

The operation is being coordinated by a slew of agencies, including FDNY, NYPD, the Buildings Department, and the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, plus Con Ed.

Willis Moore, 59, the garage’s general manager, was on the second floor when the building collapsed, killing him. “He was the absolute best, so beloved by all,” said Amy Sewell, a longtime Tribeca resident who formerly parked her car in the garage. “My heart hurts, he was such a great guy.”

Five other garage workers were in the building around 4 p.m., the time of the collapse. Four who survived were transported to the hospital in stable condition and the other refused medical attention, said FDNY Chief of Operations John Esposito.

“There was a worker that was trapped on the upper floors. He was conscious and alert and moving around, calling us. He just couldn’t get down and we were able to put firefighters up there in the building and take him out across the roof to another building and bring him down safely,” Esposito said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

Firefighters were conducting searches in the building as it was continuing to collapse, Esposito said. “We made the decision to remove all our people from the building.”

Esposito said the FDNY’s robotics unit was nearby and got to the scene quickly, where they deployed a robotic “dog” into the unstable structure, providing video from inside. Drones also transmitted urgently needed pictures of the structure. “This is the first time that we’ve been able to fly inside in a collapse to do this and try to get us some information…without risking the lives of our firefighters,” Esposito said.

“Thank God we had the robotic dog that was able to go in the building,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the scene on Tuesday. “This is ideally what we talk about, not sending a human being inside a building that’s unstable.”

Active violations on the building go back to 2003, said acting Buildings Department Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik. City records show a violation in 2003, deemed hazardous, for “first floor ceiling slab cracks,” and “missing concrete covering steel beams.” There is no record of the violation being corrected.

Two nearby Pace University buildings, a residence hall at 33 Beekman St. and office and classroom space at 161 William St., were evacuated. Tuesday night the university reported that the Buildings Department gave a green light for students to return to their dorms. But classes held in the William Street building, which shared a wall with the garage, would be conducted remotely.