Darn! I was hoping it was the abandoned, boarded up, eye-sore of a building 2 doors down from me...

JC building inspectors are useless.

Residents forced out - building on brink of collapse

Wednesday, September 17, 2008
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Seven families were evacuated from their homes when their Downtown Jersey City building suffered a partial collapse yesterday, authorities said.

The families were told they could not return last night after engineers determined the three-story building was unsafe, but officials expect repairs to be made today and the families to return by tonight.

The building's owner, Arthur Pronti of Jersey City, agreed to pay for lodging for his tenants last night.

At 11:04 a.m., firefighters responding to Barrow and Mercer streets on a report of a collapse found a large section of the wooden cornice had broken off the top of the building and crashed to the sidewalk, Fire Department Director Armando Roman said.

Firefighters evacuated the building and cordoned off the area, Roman said.

"Upon investigation, we saw some serious structural abnormalities," Jersey City Construction Official Ray Meyer said at the scene yesterday morning. "Residents are reporting hearing creaking sounds and pieces of concrete falling. One interior staircase is shifting."

By 2 p.m., the owner's engineer had arrived, as had a city engineer, and their assessment prompted Meyer to order removal of the cornice from the entire perimeter of the building. The owner must also shore up the building's interior staircases before residents will be allowed to return, Meyer said.

The rear wall was "bulging at the back of the building," but Meyer said that was a non-structural issue that would also be investigated.

The building next to the vacant lot on the 200 block of Brunswick St. just south of 8th St. looks as though it is about to collapse.

Partial building collapse in Downtown Jersey City

by Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal
Tuesday September 16, 2008, 1:14 PM

A partial building collapse in Downtown Jersey City forced the evacuation of a multi-family building and an engineer is being called to the scene to "assess what appear to be serious structural abnormalities," said Construction Code Official Ray Meyer.

Firefighters responding to the three-story brick building this morning on an 11:04 a.m. report of a collapse at Barrow and Mercer streets found a large section of the wooden cornice had broken off the top of the building and crashed to the sidewalk, Fire Department Director Armando Roman said.

Building residents were evacuated and the fire department cordoned off the area, Roman said.

"Upon investigation, we saw some serious structural abnormalities including the exterior wall bulging at the back of the building," said Meyer. "Residents are reporting hearing creaking sounds and pieces of concrete falling. One interior staircase is shifting."

Meyer said city officials are waiting for the engineer to arrive to make a determination on what has to be done to make the building safe.

Firefighters are standing by and Public Service Electric & Gas workers have been called to the scene in case it is necessary to turn off the building's utilities, Roman said.