As New York City cracks down on structurally deficient parking garages in the wake of a deadly collapse in lower Manhattan last month, part of a garage near Times Square has been partially vacated after inspectors uncovered a slew of safety problems.
Four floors of a 9-story commercial parking garage on West 40th Street are now off limits, considered too dangerous after Department of Buildings inspectors found structural problems that worried them.
The partial vacate order issued last week means the parking garage is still open and drivers can still park their cars, just on other floors.
City officials inspected the site after News 4 tipped the DOB off about concerns regarding possible unsafe conditions at the garage. Following a review of the garage, the agency discovered dangerous structural conditions that raised red flags, including missing structural steel supports, corrosion on other steel supports, and unpermitted temporary shoring work.
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The floor that are now off limits because of the partial vacate order include the cellar, and the first, sixth and seventh floors.
The city is ordering the owners to do emergency shoring work. It comes as the city continues to inspect nearly 80 parking garages after the April 18 collapse that killed a 59-year-old manager and injured five others.
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"If other New Yorkers suspect unsafe conditions at a parking structure in their neighborhood, they are strongly encouraged to let us know about it right away by filing an official complaint through 311," a DOB spokesperson told News 4.
All of the garage on the inspection list were either managed by the same company as the Ann Street garage or had previous open violations. So far, the city has issued various vacate orders to eight parking garages between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
