After a construction crane went up in flames and collapsed on 10th Avenue damaging neighboring buildings, efforts to repair the damages caused by the crane have begun.
Workers from city agencies have started to seal the huge crater in the ground that was left by the falling crane. Repairs have also begun on the scaffolding located on the 555TEN building that was also damaged by the collapsing crane.
“I want to point out that it’s not going to be a very quick resolution on that block,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine at Wednesday’s Community Board 4 general meeting. “As I understand it from the Building’s Commissioner, there’s going to have to be two stages of essentially salvage work.”
Part of the salvage work will include bringing a smaller crane to remove some of the debris, but a comparable taller crane will then have to be constructed to get the original burnt-out crane cabin down.
The five-alarm incident forced residents from 555TEN (which the crane struck while falling), The Victory, MiMa, 500 W42nd Street, YOTEL, and Covenant House to evacuate.
YOTEL has remained closed since the incident due to the building’s proximity to the collapse of the crane. They announced on Twitter “The decision to close the hotel has been made by the authorities and we continue to support them in their investigations. We hope to return to business as usual as soon as possible, but at this time we do not have a definitive date of when we’ll be able to reopen.”
The Signature Theatre on W42nd Street (which backs onto the damaged crane site) is also closed to the public until further notice. They said on Instagram “Signature Theatre is closed to the public until further notice following the crane collapse on 41st Street. We are thinking of those affected and are wishing for a safe and speedy recovery. We will update the public when it is safe to re-open.”
Neighbors of the surrounding buildings had to spend eight hours outside of their homes. Residents of MiMa were allowed back in at 4pm yesterday and 440 W41 Street has allowed occupants to return.
“I think you should expect life will not quite be back to normal on that block on 10th Avenue for a while,” said Levine
Officials have also reported that 120 residents of the Covenant House, a youth shelter, were forced to evacuate. Councilmember Erik Bottcher says they will be able to return to the Covenant House tomorrow and they all have beds available to them until then.
The Crane was being used on a 47-story residential building at 550 10th Avenue that is being developed by Gotham Organization.
Drivers should avoid the area. The following roads are still closed — 10th Avenue between W38th and W42nd Street, W39th Street between Dyer and 11th Avenue, W40th Street at Lincoln Tunnel and Dyer Avenue along with W41st Street between 9th and 11th Avenue. It’s now reported that 12 people — including three firefighters — faced minor injuries from the incident.