Crews tearing down vacant E2 nightclub after Chicago officials deem building an "imminent danger to the public"
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The South Loop building that once housed a nightclub at the center of one of Chicago's deadliest tragedies was being torn down on Tuesday, after city building inspectors determined the long-vacant site was too dangerous to leave standing.
The E2 nightclub was the place where 21 people were killed and 50 others were injured in a stampede for the exits in 2003, after a security guard sprayed pepper spray to break up a fight – causing a panic in the crowded club. The crowd rushed to the front exit, but because the doors opened inwards, patrons couldn't get out because of the weight of the crowd pressing out against the doors.
Last week, the Chicago Department of Buildings issued an order that the two-story building that once housed the E2 nightclub at 2347 S. Michigan Ave. should be "immediately demolished on an EMERGENCY BASIS," because it "constitutes an actual and imminent danger to the public."
On Tuesday, a demolition crew began tearing the building down.
The demolition work comes after the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on Nov. 7 denied the building owner's application to tear it down, finding the building – which originally was a Fiat dealership when it was first built in 1910 – is an important part of the historic Motor Row District in the South Loop, and should be preserved.
However, on Nov. 22, the Buildings Department performed an inspection to determine whether the building was so badly damaged by fire or otherwise deteriorated to constitute an imminent danger to the public. After that inspection, the department's commissioner issued an emergency demolition order.
The building's owner, Randy Shifrin, has spent months fighting to tear the building down in order to build a 21-story housing complex for seniors. He has said the project will include a memorial to the victims of the E2 stampede.
In June, the Buildings Department asked him to demolish the vacant building or make it safe, but the landmarks commission denied his application for a demolition permit.
An hours-long hearing in October on Shifrin's demolition permit request got heated and emotional at times inside City Hall, as attorneys for both the building's owner and the city made their case, following months of back and forth.
Many people want to see the site transformed into a permanent memorial for the victims of the nightclub stampede.
At October's public hearing on the building owner's request for a demolition permit, Laneisha Crawford spoke through tears about her mother, Demetricta Cardwell, who was killed that night.
"If you don't demolish it, try to put something else good there, because we deserve something that will remember our families," she said.
Shifrin has said he does plan to include a memorial to the E2 victims as part of his plan to redevelop the site.
"We've been promising these surviving families, who are wonderful people, because I've gotten to know them very well, and they're hurting every day. Nobody should be forced to look at where you lost a loved one every day; see their place that they perished. Shame on us," he said at October's hearing.
On Feb. 17, 2003, a security guard sprayed pepper spray to break up a fight inside E2 – causing a panic in the crowded club. The crowd rushed to the front exit, but because the doors opened inwards, patrons couldn't get out because of the weight of the crowd pressing out against the doors.
It took 40 minutes for first responders to help the trampled and asphyxiated. By then, it was too late. Twenty-one people died and dozens more were injured.
At the time, the club was far over capacity at the time and had been ignoring a judge's order to close its second floor because of a building code violation.
The nightclub has been vacant ever since.
