A dozen N.J. apartment buildings deemed unsafe after ceilings collapse

EDISON, N.J. – A dozen apartment buildings in Edison were deemed unsafe Friday after ceilings collapsed in two different units.

Twelve of the 13 buildings at the Evergreen Meadows apartment complex on White Birch Road are affected.

Edison Mayor Sam Joshi said in a post on Facebook that a ceiling collapsed in the living room of an apartment on Aug. 3, prompting local officials to issue an unsafe structure notice to the complex's management. A person who was in the room at the time of the collapse suffered minor injuries. Then, around 4 a.m. Friday, another ceiling in a different building collapsed in someone's bedroom.

Nearly 300 apartments evacuated in N.J. due to structural concerns

Joshi said all 13 buildings were evacuated Friday, and 12 were deemed unsafe due to structural problems. There is a total of 280 units in the 12 buildings.

When asked about the cause of the collapses, Joshi said, "We wouldn't say it's weather-related because it's an ongoing issue that happened for a while, but we do believe that the heat could have contributed to the expansion of some of the wood and the nails coming out."

"You can actually see where the sheetrock is bowing between, and you can see where the nails are actually pulling through the sheetrock. The sheetrock's like pulling off the nails. It's not the nails coming out of the trusses, it's the sheetrock is failing almost, like it's not being held up there ... We're finding that in every one of the buildings," said construction code official John Soltesz.

Soltesz said there was a similar collapse a couple years ago, and at the time, they told the management company to get a structural engineer to look into the issue.  

In a statement, management company Garden Communities said:

"We can confirm that multiple buildings at Evergreen Meadows were evacuated on Friday, August 9, following an inspection indicating potential safety issues. We are grateful for the support and assistance our residents have received from the Township during a stressful situation, and we are committed to working toward a resolution that will ensure their ability to return safely to their homes as soon as possible."

The company declined an on-camera interview.

The mayor said the management company sent multiple contractors to fix the problem Friday. For now, the company is putting residents up at nearby hotels and paying for food.

Edison apartments fail reinspection

Saturday, some residents were allowed back inside their apartments to gather belongings, but they are all still deemed unsafe.

"They asked us to grab stuff for two, three days," resident Gopi Contractor said. "They don't have any update on any of the apartments ... We don't know if we are going to be done by tomorrow or not, and Monday is a working day."

None of the apartments have yet to pass inspection.

"The ones that did fail, four of them, they asked for a reinspection today and they all failed," Edison Fire Chief Andrew Toth said.

The mayor said the work that was done Saturday was not up to code, and that's why none of the apartments passed inspection. He said repairs ongoing and hopes to have residents back home on Sunday.

Resident Irina Grishkvich making the best of it until she can go home.

"We are provided with a roof, so we are not like in terrible distress completely completely," she said.

Edison apartment resident says ceiling collapsed onto sleeping parents

Rikesh Patel's 62-year-old parents were awoken Friday morning by the ceiling falling onto their bed. Patel was sleeping in the next room with his wife and 3-month-old daughter, and ran in after hearing a loud noise.

"I alone was not able to lift it ... I was speechless. I was not able to say anything until I removed the ceiling from them," Patel said.

His mother was hit in the head, and his father was hit in the back of his head and his leg. They were taken to a local hospital to be checked out and released, but Patel said his mother was still experiencing some pain in her head.

"We have a 3-month-old baby. We don't know, if the ceiling would have fallen from our room, I don't know what might have happened," he said.

Patel said he's lived at the Evergreen Meadows Complex for a little more than a year. He said management was slow to resolve previous issues involving pests and mold.

Saturday, the ceiling in Patel's apartment was patched up, but he said it "is still not in good condition."

Patel is staying with a friend in the meantime. He said his parents are still upset.

"They are a bit traumatized emotionally and mentally. At times, my mom, she wakes up at night feeling that the ceiling is falling," he said.

"Based on the emotional and mental disturbance of my parents, for sure, I'll file a lawsuit against them," he said.