[UPDATE BELOW] Here's helicopter footage taken this morning following the collapse of a five-story building landmark building at 71 Reade Street between Church and Broadway. Channel 7 reports that first responders believe the mixed-use building to be vacant when it collapsed around 6:15 this morning, sending "debris and pieces of the building crashing onto parked cars and across Reade Street."
According to Buildings Department records, the building was undergoing extensive renovation, including excavation, shoring and foundation. Which obviously didn't go so well! Reade Street, Church Street and Broadway are currently closed as emergency responders deal with the situation, and residents of neighboring 65 and 67 Reade streets were temporarily evacuated. No injuries have been reported yet.
UPDATE:Curbed reports that the property was slated to be expanded into a 100-room boutique hotel, which was to have been constructed behind the landmark facade. It was therefore dubbed a "tumor building," in the parlance of our times...so now we suppose it's either in remission or in the mortuary, depending on your feelings about boutique hotels.
The Times's scrappy young reporter A.G. Sulzberger may have gotten his big break with this story; he's on the scene getting color from witnesses like Starbucks' employee Niesha Houston, who says, "I turned around and all you could see was debris—a white cloud all up the block. That’s when we panicked." Another employee echos the sense of 9/11 deja-vu, saying, "I went outside and it was so dark and smoky you couldn’t see." And Anthony Casalena, a designer who has vivid photos of the aftermath on his website, tells Sulzberger the collapse made his building move.
Neighbor Nick Palmacci was awoken by the collapse, and describes it to the Daily News as sounding like "37 train cars coming right by your head." Other neighbors tell the News the building had been crumbling for weeks and recently been outfitted with corner braces. Carpenter Eric White, who works across the street, explains, "We said it was only a matter of days. We knew it." His coworker pointed out a blue Crown Victoria that was buried in debris and said, "That car had taken the spot and it got crushed. Usually I wind up sitting in the truck until this place opens. It was my lucky day."
