A 10-story Baltimore-area office building was evacuated after an underground parking structure was compromised during construction work.
According local news reports, Anne Arundel County, Md., firefighters evacuated approximately 100 occupants of the 50-year-old Empire Towers in Glen Burnie on July 9 after construction workers reported rebar issues and a shift in the lowest floor of its two-level 42,770-sq-ft garage. The county’s chief building inspector subsequently determined the building to be unsafe, with no public entry permitted.
In Maryland, neither the contractor involved nor the scope of construction have been identified. No injuries were reported during the evacuation. Although the building is not in imminent danger of collapse, as originally feared, traffic is being detoured around the area pending further investigations.
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Responsibility for repairing the building rests with the property’s ownership group and management company, according to a county statement. The process requires hiring of a licensed structural engineering firm to evaluate the damage and develop a remediation plan.
“Once a contractor is hired to begin remediation, county inspectors will conduct routine inspections during the construction phase to ensure permitted repair work complies with the approved plan and applicable building codes,” the statement added.
Originally constructed in 1975, the 188,810-sq-ft building underwent a full interior and exterior renovation in 2017, according to county records.
Empire Towers was evacuated two days after construction crews working on one of New York City’s largest office-to-residential conversions evacuated a midtown Manhattan high-rise and neighboring blocks July 7 after discovering two buckled load-bearing structural columns and sagging floors on the 21st floor.
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