The W51st Street parking garage which caused Amtrak trains to be canceled out of New York for four days, reopened briefly today (Saturday) to reunite over 100 car owners with their vehicles.
Staff at the garage beneath Hudsonview Terrace at 747 10th Avenue were allowed to fetch cars for their owners, just for today. A manager at the garage said that they had managed to contact all owners, who have been picking up their vehicles throughout the day. Only Icon staff were allowed into the garage — car owners waited outside for their vehicles to be brought to them.
Originally, locals with contracts with the parking garage were offered alternative spots at Icon’s other local facility two blocks away at the Skyline Hotel at 10th Avenue and W49th Street. However, on Thursday, the Department of Buildings (DOB) hit that facility with a partial vacate order. The order at 721 10th Avenue says that the entire first floor of the parking garage and the cellar level cannot be used.
The owner of the parking garage and hotel, Piccadilly Hotel Co, also received a summons from DOB that was posted at the site, saying their occupancy was contrary to that allowed by the Certificate of Occupancy or DOB records. Inspectors said the parking garage on the cellar and first floor levels were overloaded. DOB records say that 115 cars are allowed in the cellar and 33 on the first floor. On Thursday, DOB inspectors: “noted at cellar level 162 cars and first floor with 70 cars parked.” They added that the “parking garage has several structural defects.”
Icon’s contract customers are now being offered parking at their facility at 435 W57th Street. Staff indicated to customers that it would likely be “months, not weeks” until the parking garage was back in operation.
As cars were being driven out by staff this afternoon, boards and metal plates could be seen covering the defective ramps where holes were discovered last week, leading to the vacate order for the garage and Amtrak trains being canceled from Sunday through to Thursday.
In April this year, a parking garage building partially collapsed in the Financial District, resulting in one death, five injuries and the evacuation of neighboring buildings. After the collapse, DOB conducted inspections of parking structures across the city. In late April, four additional garages in Manhattan and Brooklyn were closed for “posing an immediate threat to public safety”.
The parking garage problem is not the only challenge facing the owners of 747 10th Avenue. This afternoon, scaffolding was being erected around the 38-story Hudsonview Terrace apartment building as work began to comply with other Emergency Work Orders issued by DOB.
We reached out to the owners of both properties for comments, but did not get a response before publication.