Crews begin removing cars trapped for months inside unsafe Empire Towers building

Workers began removing vehicles on Monday from the parking garage underneath the structurally unsound Empire Towers building in Glen Burnie, Maryland.

The vehicles have been trapped inside the parking garage for 74 days after workers were forced to evacuate the office building in July when unpermitted work in the garage caused the structure to shift.  

Now, crews are removing the cars one by one.

Workers wearing hard hats were seen Monday entering the parking garage and driving vehicles out. The cars were taken to a nearby parking lot off Ritchie Highway, where other workers appeared to be documenting the vehicles and monitoring the lot.

Last week, Liam McGeehan received a form from Structural Preservation Systems, LLC, the company handling the vehicle removals.

McGeehan and other vehicle owners were required to sign the form before their cars could be removed.

"Based on the language of it, I'm assuming the risk and saying that I won't go after the people removing the car for anything that's happened," McGeehan said.

McGeehan said he dropped off his key Friday and was told to expect an email this week with instructions for picking up his vehicle.

"I'm definitely very grateful that this is a very strong possibility at this point that I'm getting my car back," he said. "But I feel horrible for my coworkers that are still having to deal with this."

McGeehan said only a handful of his coworkers have received emails about getting their vehicles back, while others received worse news.

"Some people got an email saying that they're probably never getting their car back because it's smushed by a concrete slab," he said.

McGeehan said he still hasn't gotten his car back, and he won't consider the ordeal over until it's back in his driveway.

CBS News Baltimore reached out to Structural Preservation Systems for more information about the vehicle removals and is awaiting a response.