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NYC orders thousands of parking garage inspections in wake of fatal cave-in
By
David Brand
Published Oct 19, 2023
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Brittany Kriegstein/Gothamist
By
David Brand
Published Oct 19, 2023
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The city’s buildings department is set to enforce stricter inspection requirements on thousands of parking garages that might have otherwise avoided review for years, after a deadly cave-in killed a man in Lower Manhattan earlier this year.
Current law requires owners of parking garages to submit an in-depth structural inspection report by a certified engineer every six years, with nearly 2,000 garages in Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island exempt from mandatory examination until the end of 2027. The Department of Buildings’ new rule will force owners to hire an engineer to give their garages a once-over by August 2024, in addition to the more comprehensive structural review later on, regardless of their location.
The rule comes as few owners file inspection reports, even with a Dec. 31 deadline approaching for more than 1,000 parking garages located on the Upper West Side and south of Central Park. So far, owners of just 80 of those structures have submitted their mandatory inspection reports, city data shows. At least 24 of the garages are considered “unsafe” and require repairs within 90 days.
Under the existing law, owners of garages elsewhere in Manhattan and Brooklyn don’t have to submit their inspection reports until the end of 2025, while owners in Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx get another two years. That amounts to around 3,400 garages citywide.
Andrew Rudansky, a spokesperson for the buildings department, said the new rule will allow the city to “identify potential structural issues before disaster strikes” at those facilities. The new rule will be posted in the City Record next week, following the end of a public review process earlier this year.
Rudansky said the rule was introduced in response to the fatal April cave-in of a parking garage at 57 Ann St., which killed a longtime manager. The disaster in the Financial District led to a crackdown on structures with open violations and the shutdown of at least seven sites the department deemed unsafe.
The existing law would have required the owner of the Ann Street garage to hire a certified engineer known as a “qualified parking structure inspector” and to submit the required report by the end of this year.
Engineers told Gothamist the collapse prompted a flurry of calls from garage owners and managers eager to verify the integrity of their structures, but those efforts have slowed in recent months.
“It seems to me the alarm has passed,” said structural engineer Eric Cowley, one of 85 qualified parking garage inspectors in the city.
Cowley welcomed the city’s goal of “getting an eye on every garage” but said owners may encounter issues with actually getting contractors to fix their problems, especially when it comes to short-term jobs that require extensive permits and plans in exchange for a relatively low payout.
The new rule requires engineers to complete a visual inspection, in addition to the more in-depth analysis mandated every six years under the existing law.
The buildings department said the current inspectors shouldn’t have a problem handling the workload, as long as owners contact them to schedule the reviews.
But Jason Damiano, a senior structural engineer at RAND Engineering and Architecture, said it’s a stretch to think the owners of thousands of garages will comply by August.
“It’s hard to imagine that happening,” Damiano said. “To get all those done is going to be an undertaking.”
Damiano said he and his peers will walk through the structures checking for visible signs of deterioration, like exposed rebar or cracked and “spalled” — or chipped — concrete, and immediately report those issues to the city.
He said that method will identify the “worst-case scenario conditions.”
He said the next potential collapse "is a scenario they can thwart with this plan."
Tagged
new york city
public safety
manhattan
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
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