Owner of Wicker Park building where façade fell on woman was told to make emergency repairs last month
CHICAGO (CBS) -- New details emerged Thursday about a crumbling Wicker Park building, in front of which a woman was critically injured when part of the façade fell a day before.
As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reported, the building's owner was told to make emergency repairs last month.
Red emergency tape was still strung up late Thursday at the northeast corner of Ashland and Milwaukee avenues. At the building right on the corner at 1227 N. Milwaukee Ave., much of the brick substructure is now exposed after part of the limestone façade fell the day before – and crews later came in to begin removing the rest.
The city asked for an emergency motion in court Thursday for an immediate appointment of a receiver to make the necessary repairs to the façade, and it was granted. This is contrary to earlier reports that the building was to be torn down immediately.
Just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, emergency crews rushed to the busy intersection and arrived to find a woman crushed by chunks of limestone in front of the building at 1227 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Facebook video shows good Samaritans rushing to help the 22-year-old woman moments after she fell to the ground. She was surrounded by debris that fell from the building.
The marquee-light sign for Value Pawn, the now-out-of-business pawn shop that was once located in the building, also fell down and was left dangling from the scaffolding canopy out front.
The young woman suffered a severe head injury after she was hit by debris. The Department of Buildings said the debris went beyond the canopy when the young woman was hurt.
On Thursday afternoon, crews were removing slabs of the facade from the ground and placing it into a nearby dumpster. Parts of the façade that could be safely removed were also taken down.
The scaffolding company also extended the border of the canopy on the south side of the building, which was not in place on Wednesday.
Ross Luisi has a business next to the building. He says about three weeks ago, debris also fell from it.
"It was not cleaned up for a week and a half," Luisi said. "People were just walking over it. - all in that area - large pieces of three, four-hundred-pound slabs of the façade."
The Department of Buildings does confirm around that same time on March 21, they contacted an agent of the owner of the vacant building after an anonymous 311 call. The person was told to:
• Immediately put up a heavy-duty canopy on the public way around the front of the buildings.
• Get a licensed structural engineer to assess the building façade.
• Get a licensed masonry contractor to make emergency repairs.
While the heavy-duty canopy was put in place, the owner did not make any repairs.
We reached out to the owner of the building for comment. We hadn't heard back as of late Thursday.
