2023 New York City parking garage collapse

, photographed in 2017|alt=An entrance to a parking garage in New York City, where a few signs leading to the entrance are noted. The building, which was located at 57 Ann Street in New York City's Financial District, was built in 1925. The 1957 certificate mandated that the roof was only to hold "passenger-car type" vehicles. The New York City Sheriff's Office parked vehicles at the garage, six of which were present at the time of the collapse. The building had received multiple building violations since 1957. In 2003, the DOB found concrete defects in the stairs, along with cracks in the first-floor ceiling, spalling concrete, steel beams with missing concrete coverings, and defective concrete with exposed cracks. In 2009, broken stairs and loose concrete was noted in numerous areas of the parking garage. The DOB commissioner stated that there was also an application for work on the building in 2010 for the automobile lift, however the open violations were not addressed during the application. Prior to the collapse, there were no recent permits for construction at 57 Ann Street. Under a local law that required building inspections for all garages citywide by 2027, the DOB had been scheduled to inspect the garage before the end of 2023. == Collapse ==

The second floor of the parking garage partially collapsed onto the first floor at around 4 p.m. EDT on April 18, 2023. The collapse killed the garage's 59-year-old manager, Willis Moore. Initially, five people were reported injured, one of whom refused medical treatment. Local TV station WPIX later reported that seven workers had been injured, including the worker who had declined treatment. Videos online showed numerous cars piled on top of each other. Students attending nearby classes at Pace University heard "a large noise and a big rumbling" and similar effects of an earthquake, along with screams during the collapse. Fire department officials noted shaking and vibrations in the collapse area, which prompted DOB employees to inspect the stability of the collapsed garage after being notified by them. The garage collapse event was known as the Ann Street Building Collapse after its location on Ann Street. == Response ==

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the FDNY assisted with evacuations of nearby buildings and conducted rescues for people who were trapped in the collapsed garage. Pace University canceled classes at their New York City campus and evacuated two university buildings. As emergency crews and management responded to the collapse, New York City Subway services ran at slower speeds on several lines, including lines A, C, J/Z, 2, and 3, leading to delays. New York City mayor Eric Adams called the building "completely unstable" as he visited the collapse site, and at one point the FDNY withdrew its personnel due to the unsafe building conditions. A street was blocked off due to fears that the buckled facade would collapse onto the street. According to local media sources, initial findings attributed the age of the structure and an excess number of vehicles on the roof of the structure as contributing causes to the collapse. Although some sources said there had been between 80 and 90 vehicles in the garage just before it collapsed, the FDNY estimated that there had been about 40 cars in the building. After the collapse, the DOB issued full or partial vacate orders to occupants of six buildings. A neighboring Pace University building at 161 William Street was also deemed unstable; The adjoining block of Ann Street was closed for several months, displacing residents of that block. New York City building inspectors conducted inspections of parking structures across the city. Shortly after the collapse, a DOB spokesperson found 61 parking garages to be "immediately hazardous", citing them to be improperly maintained and in poor structural condition. for posing "an immediate threat to public safety". One engineer indicated that the garage-inspection process could have saved lives if it had occurred earlier. Investigation In early 2024, the city government hired a structural engineer to investigate the collapse. The results of the report, published in April 2025, found that the collapse had occurred when workers tried to repair a cracked pier by removing masonry, under the mistaken assumption that there was a steel column encased within the masonry. The weight of cars on the roof had put excessive pressure on the weakened pier, causing a cascading failure of the structure. The report also found that the structure suffered from deferred maintenance, with issues such as corroded rebar and cracked concrete, and that it was frequently overloaded beyond its weight limit. ==References==