City: Contractor Had No Permit For Condo Work Near Garage Collapse

Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter

DALLAS (CBS11) - New questions are surfacing about work being done at a high rise Dallas condo where part of a parking garage collapsed Friday, damaging dozens of cars below.

CBS11 has discovered the general contractor, Reconstruction Experts of Irving, applied for a permit September 9th to re-do the pool deck at the Renaissance Condos on Turtle Creek Blvd., a $150,000 project.

But city spokeswoman Sana Syed tells me the city didn't issue a permit because officials still had questions about the project, and so far, the contractor hasn't responded.

I called the man who submitted the application on behalf of the company, but I didn't hear back late Monday afternoon. We watched as crews continued work on the pool deck Monday morning.

Syed says the contractor will now have to hire a structural engineer who will have to report to the city: how crews will make the garage safe, how they will remove the cars, and why they believe a part of the garage collapsed.

Syed says the structural engineer will have to determine when work on the pool project began.

She says the city may double the cost of permit fee against the contractor.

A condo board member, Dedie Leahy, says she had no idea the city hadn't issued the general contractor a permit.

Leahy says she doesn't have all the specifics, but did explain what may have led up to part of the garage collapsing all seven floors. "There was a mound of dirty that had been removed from the pool area that was being stored, major renovation going on structurally as well as cosmetically and there was a mound of dirt, bricks, and other debris at the site of where this collapse occurred.

Leahy later clarified that it was rocks, not bricks, included in the debris.

She says it may take up to six months to restore the garage.

For now, she's thankful no one was hurt Friday. "This is a miracle on Turtle Creek. We have about 1,000 residents in the three towers and not one injury, not one."

Another condo owner, Peter Evseev says his wife had a very close call. "The main thing is she is ok. She is alive. She was on her way to Whole Foods and she was two minutes away from her car and when it just happened, she was walking into the garage."

Leahy says there were as many as 50 cars parked in the garage where it came down.

Evseev says he can't use two cars: his new Maserati that they still won't allow to move, and his wife's three year old Lexus, which has been flattened. "It was in the middle of all the debris that fell from the top of the garage. It's gone, destroyed."

Leahy says her Lexus is also destroyed. "My car is a pancake and who cares, it's a car. We can get other cars."

She says the condo association's insurance has already reserved 183 rental cars for affected residents to use.

Leahy is hoping that officials will be able to remove 41 cars from the garage Monday evening.

The city says police and the streets department are working to set up parking for the affected residents.

(©2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Follow Jack on Twitter: @cbs11jack