'Somebody messed up royally': Who's responsible for fixing a Lincoln Park sink hole that almost took a car?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The search for answers continues after the pavement fell out beneath a car in Lincoln Park on Wednesday.
The car was teetering on the edge of a sinkhole as crews tried to pull it to safety. CBS 2's Sabrina Franza met with the owners of the car, the building and an engineer to find out why this happened and who's at fault.
When a driver found her car halfway in a hole, a situation so bizarre, she couldn't help but laugh.
"Um yeah, it was in the hole."
Now, the joke's worn off.
"How much is this going to cost me? Thank god I wasn't in it."
Danielle, who asked CBS 2 keep her last name confidential, leases the spot for $165 a month. Her insurance might not cover the damage to her car. She saId they're claiming it was a possible "act of god."
One expert said it's the opposite.
"Somebody messed up royally. I mean you're talking about safety."
Mae Whiteside Williams walked through the damage. Her civil engineering company services government and private consulting firms.
"They probably said 'OK, that's good enough.' But it's not. It's clearly a massive void. It's about six or seven feet deep down there."
At some point, she said someone paved over the roof of a basement.
"They should have filled it in."
They didn't.
"Essentially, this section is acting like a bridge, except it has no support. I get the impression this isn't the only basement that's been abandoned."
Which is a major problem. CBS 2 tracked down the building owner. Steve Fifield. He's the CEO of real estate development firm Fifield companies and Fifield said he had no idea the basement was even there.
He did say over the phone that he's going to check for others.
"Once you're alerted, you need to be proactive and that's what were doing," Fifield said.
At some point, someone dropped the ball. The Chicago Department of Buildings didn't know about it before this happened either. And it's not mentioned on any building permits obtained by CBS 2.
"The whole site should've been submitted. But then, if a property manager doesn't want to deal with the expense of renovating the site itself, then they may not submit their paperwork."
The plans for this decades old building that include the basement are lost somewhere.
"I'm worried about this whole entire block, but not just this block, others in the area," said xxxxx "Because that parking situation is pretty typical over here."
It's not clear how many other buildings it effects.