Work crew escapes unharmed|[1/26/06]

Published 12:00 am Thursday, January 26, 2006

One of Vicksburg’s oldest commercial buildings gave way Wednesday morning, toppling onto a downtown sidewalk in a shower of bricks and mortar and knocking a gaping hole in an adjacent building – but injuring no one.

The vacant 140-year-old building at 713 Clay St., most recently the home of Thomas Furniture Store, was being renovated to become an antique shopping mall when the structure began to crumble around 11:15 a.m. The owner says he’ll rebuild.

Twenty-three maintenance and construction workers inside the building, hired by J&W Remodeling and Construction of Vicksburg, escaped unharmed, alerted just before the walls crashed down by the crackles and snaps of shattering bricks and mortar.

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There was no indication of what triggered the implosion, which left the structure a total loss.

While most workers fled when the popping and crackling started, one worker in the basement was pushed out to safety by pressure created by the force of the collapse above, said building owner Preston Reuther.

&#8220Not one person was killed. Not one person was injured. Not a scratch,” said a choked-up Reuther, who owns the collapsed building, its now-shaky neighbor at 711 Clay St. and the undamaged red brick building at 709 Clay St. &#8220The rest is nothing but brick. Who cares? It’s an absolute miracle.”

Rose Scanson said her office is &#8220temporarily still standing,” at 711 Clay St., which shared a facade and a brick wall – much of it now collapsed – with the old Thomas Furniture building. Scanson had left the office, where she helped supervise the workers, moments before its neighbor bit the dust.

&#8220Normally I’m in there,” she said, motioning to the buildings. &#8220I had just left and was going up Clay when I got the call, and that’s when I came to a screeching stop.”

The east wall of 711 Clay, which is shared with the collapsed 713, was left exposed. To the east, the century-old building housing the Adolph Rose antique store was left standing with a gaping hole in its west wall and a sagging middle floor inside. The integrity of these structures was uncertain, but both were in danger of further collapse if not handled carefully, said Louis Miller Jr., president of Riverside Construction Co., which headed the immediate debris removal effort.

The city will &#8220keep the world away as long as necessary” until rubble is cleared and the remaining structures are safe for passers-by, said Mayor Laurence Leyens. However, he said the city will take no role in clearing or fortifying the structures because of liability risks.

&#8220We’re not going to touch a brick,” Leyens said. &#8220If we touch one brick and another building falls, we can be sued.”

The section of Clay Street directly in front of the building between Walnut and Washington streets will be closed indefinitely as crews work to remove the rubble, said Leyens. who went to the scene. Two Vicksburg police officers will patrol each end of the block until the debris is cleared and private security can be hired. Power was shut off to the entire Clay Street side of the block, said city engineer Bubba Rainer, including the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau building facing Washington Street at the west end of the block. Gas lines were initially set to be turned off for the entire block, encompassing Washington, Clay, Walnut and Grove streets, but were left alone when officials discovered the gas line for the collapsed building had never been turned on, Rainer said.

Structural engineer Stan Woodson said he didn’t want to speculate on the cause of the collapse, saying &#8220it’s not clear” how the building came down or how strong the remaining structures are because of the rubble – some of which was supporting the still-standing structure.

&#8220There’s a lot of unknowns right now due to the debris pile that’s there,” Woodson said. &#8220We have to assess remaining parts of the structure to see what needs to be braced and what needs to be demolished.”

Witnesses and officials noted that the building, like many old downtown sites, hadn’t been properly maintained as it aged.

&#8220It’s just an old, old building,” said Reuther.

The New Orleans native bought the block of buildings in the fall of last year from the Haik family, which operated Thomas Furniture there for about 30 years, and planned to turn the approximately 50,000-square-foot area into &#8220one of the finest shopping malls in Mississippi,” able to hold up to 100 antique shops and booths, he said. Reuther, who has lived in Vicksburg for five years and owns an Internet wholesale jewelry store on Clay Street, was adamant about rebuilding the structure and resuming his plans to finish the retail space.

&#8220It’s a beautiful building. It’s part of Vicksburg’s history. If it’s at all possible, we’ll rebuild it,” said Reuther, who insured the building for $1 million. &#8220If the insurance does what it’s supposed to do, we’ll be fine.”

Initial efforts to clear the site began Wednesday in the Adolph Rose building, owned by Malcolm Allred, who lives in a third floor apartment above two antique shops. The Allreds’ dog remained in the apartment Wednesday night and plans were to rescue it today. Allred was also concerned with his personal antique collection.

&#8220My net worth is in that apartment,” he said.

Below, workers with Riverside and J&W began Wednesday evening moving out antique furniture and bricks that had collapsed into the building to make way for a false wall that would stabilize the building’s drooping second level.

Outside, a crane was brought in to load up bricks to be moved to a lot behind the collapsed building, also owned by Reuther, where they would be stacked and kept to be reused in the rebuilding effort, said William Ryals, a contractor with J&W.

Workers remained until well after midnight, knocking down the remainder of jagged facade that remained above the rubble but was on the verge of sliding away on its own. Crews began the heavy lifting of bricks and debris this morning. Overall, the cleanup job may only take a few days, Riles said.

As crews arrived this morning, Reuther stood across the street from the property and pointed out the fissures, additions, common walls and facades that had been added during the series of buildings’ long history. When crews went through the buildings Wednesday, they opened rooms that hadn’t been open in decades, he said, including one large room filled ceiling to floor with thick ledgers piled up over more than a century.

&#8220It’s a classic building,” Reuther said. &#8220I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but we’re going to rebuild it.”