City inspecting unsafe Mt. Airy apartment after CBS News Philadelphia investigation
UPDATE: A spokesperson with the City's Department of Licenses and Inspections said it will not be evacuating the building at this time. According to the city, the apartment building is deemed unsafe, not imminently dangerous. Now, L&I is requiring the property owner to provide an engineer's report within seven days proving the building is safe to occupy.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- An apartment building on Crittenden Street in Northwest Philadelphia has been deemed an "unsafe structure" by the city's Department of Licenses & Inspections. Now, CBS News Philadelphia is asking if it's safe for residents to stay there.
Jamie Lawyer said it all started after the earthquake in April when she noticed a large crack running along the baseboard in her apartment and up the living room wall.
"I want to stay here but I'm convinced it's unsafe," Lawyer said. She's lived there since 2018 and loves the apartment located at 6325 Crittenden Street in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia.
Instead of going to her property manager, she says she notified the city's Department of Licenses & Inspections, or L&I, on April 8 but never heard back. Then, she flagged a member of city council, Katherine Gilmore Richardson, and on May 1, Lawyer says she came home from work to a large orange sign on the front door of the building.
The notice from L&I reads: "Unsafe Structure Notice of Violation Warning" ordering the property be repaired or demolished within 30 days.
"I'm a single mom, I'm working and I'm only getting a couple hours of sleep because I can't sleep because our home is unsafe," Lawyer said.
CBS News Philadelphia asked two outside structural engineers -- Mark Johannessen, the owner of Viking Engineers, and Michael Leonardo with Structural Engineering Design & Construction -- to take a look at the property Wednesday. They described an even more dire situation, noting there was no footing and the stone wall was rotating about a foot.
They were so concerned, they told CBS News Philadelphia they contacted L&I immediately.
"They have a violation and we feel it needs to be escalated, so we wrote a letter saying that it was dangerous," Johannessen said.
Johannessen thinks the situation has likely worsened since the city inspectors were there on May 1.
"I think the wall probably escalated this week. It doesn't take long. And once something fails, the only outcome is it's going to fall," he said.
"I think there's a big chance the wall can fail and because it's a load-bearing wall, the whole building can collapse," Leonardo said.
The property managers told CBS News Philadelphia in a message, "First and foremost, we want to assure you and the public that the safety and well-being of our residents are our top priorities. In response to the issues raised, our team at GY Properties has been actively working to resolve the situation."
The managers said their engineering team has "conducted thorough inspections both inside and outside of the building."
"While we acknowledge that there have been urgent matters requiring attention, it's important to clarify that this is not a case of imminent building collapse," they said, adding that evacuation is "not warranted" at this time. They said the "team is working diligently to implement necessary repairs and enhancements to maintain the integrity and safety of the building."
A city spokesperson confirmed that L&I staff talked with the engineers who contributed to CBS News Philadelphia's investigation.
The spokesperson said, "The engineer report they provided is incomplete, it does not consider history, repairs and conditions related to the exterior wall of the D building."
