Updated: Downtown Lexington parking garage collapses. Rebuilding plans in the works
A parking garage that partially collapsed in downtown Lexington early Thursday morning will be repaired, according to the owners.
The fire department responded to the scene at South Mill and West High streets around 6 a.m., according to Battalion Chief Shane Poynter. The garage is often used by drivers after hours for parking during events or games at Rupp Arena.
“When we arrived on scene, we found the top level of the structure had fallen into the first level,” Battalion Chief Shane Poynter said. “There were no cars underneath, and no one was hurt.”
A snow plow truck was on top of the structure when it collapsed, but he was on the other end of the structure and managed to get off the top, Poynter said.
Dudley Webb of the Webb Companies said the collapse occurred where a structural beam gave way. That area was not being used because of safety concerns. The BB&T building and parking garage is a joint venture between the Webb Companies and the Greer Companies, which purchased the building out of bankruptcy a few years ago.
Problems with the parking garage were known at the time the building was purchased, and the owners have been working to address the structural issues, Webb said. The Webb and Greer companies also developed City Center, which includes two hotels, an office tower and several restaurants in one downtown Lexington block.
“There was snow buildup and ice in that one section which caused that one beam to collapse,” Webb said.
Webb said that section of the garage will be taken down Thursday and then rebuilt.
“Building ownership has engaged architects, engineers, and consultants to evaluate the structure and make recommendations on stabilizing the site and will immediately begin repairs to stabilize the structure,” the company said Thursday afternoon in a statement. “While taking these necessary measures, we will endeavor to limit any interruptions to traffic.”
The company also said the Lexington Parking Authority made parking spaces available in its transit garage for any “displaced parkers.”
There is no city requirement for private parking garages to be inspected.
There was a repair permit for the parking garage issued two years ago, according to city records. The city’s building inspectors would have signed off on those repairs and a structural engineer would have been involved, city spokeswoman Susan Straub said.
City code enforcement records show no citations for 200 W. Vine Street. There is an ongoing code issue involving repairs to one of the sidewalks on the property, Straub said. City officials have been told the garage is 51 years old.
“We are working on a permanent remediation plan for the entire property,” Webb said. Fayette County Property Value Administration records indicate the building was constructed in 1972.
Thursday’s collapse was not the first time there have been structural issues with parking garages in Lexington.
The condition of Lexington’s parking garages came under scrutiny after Stephanie Hufnagel, 22, and her unborn daughter were killed on May 16, 2006, by a slab of concrete that fell from a privately owned garage. The panel was knocked loose after it was struck by a slow-moving pickup on the second floor of the Chase Bank parking garage. The 5,000-pound panel broke away from brackets that held it on and fell on Hufnagel, a bank employee walking below. She was eight months pregnant with her second child at the time of her death.
In May 2011, a 7-ton concrete panel fell from the city-owned Phoenix garage’s second floor onto Vine Street. No one was injured, and that garage was later demolished.
The Lexington Parking Authority spent $3.1 million in 2013 to renovate the aging Annex parking garage on Main Street, one of the city’s busiest public parking garages. The renovation was necessary to correct various safety issues in that garage.
This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 7:42 AM.