Penn Hills parking lot collapse: Property manager hopes tenants can move back in
PENN HILLS, PA. (KDKA) — It's been eight days since a parking lot in Penn Hills collapsed, leaving parts of the parking lot crumbled and the apartment building next to it condemned.
About 50 residents were displaced after the incident, but the property manager told KDKA-TV on Wednesday that he's hoping to have them move back in temporarily, pending approval from the township's Municipal Code Enforcement Department.
Michael Kelly with M.J. Realty Group told KDKA-TV that he hired an engineering team to do a walk-through of the building Wednesday morning. He said the engineering firm determined the building was structurally sound and that there was no movement in the building when the parking lot collapsed.
Kelly didn't want to go on camera but told KDKA-TV that there were no cracks in any of the rooms and engineers are writing a proposal to give to Penn Hills saying the building is habitable.
Kelly said the next issue is parking. He said the group is considering its options as to where tenants could park and possibly building a floating bridge across Frankstown Road to get tenants safely across the street and into the building.
As for why or how the building collapsed, Kelly said that remains unknown. Last week, the Penn Hills fire marshal told KDK-TV that age and rust were likely factors.
Kelly said the parking lot was in adequate condition and the group had been taking steps to keep it maintained. He said between 2014 and 2015, the group had the parking lot redecked and new concrete poured.
KDKA-TV asked if that decision was due to rust or broken concrete, and Kelly said the old surface was "bad," but it didn't have any major problems otherwise. Kelly admitted he did add a clearance barrier to limit bigger vehicles from pulling into the upper parking lot due to weight issue.
Kelly didn't know what the weight limit was but said he believes that could have been a factor in the collapse.
KDKA-TV reached out to the Penn Hills code enforcement officer for an update on whether tenants could move back in. We haven't heard back yet.
Moving forward, Kelly said the group is working to remove all the cars involved in the collapse. He said a few were removed Tuesday and the rest should be removed by the end of this week.
After that, a demo crew will come to remove the concrete so inspectors can see what happened underneath the parking lot.
