Water behind facade of Commodore may be to blame for bricks falling off
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WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) — Trinity Sickles works at the Joseph, Hollander, and Craft Law Firm, just a block to the south of the old Commodore Hotel, built in 1929, and said that she’s worried about the safety of people in the area after a section of the exterior fell to the ground below Wednesday.
“With the population and everybody just being out and about just with that happening,” Sickles said. “I mean, it could have fallen on anyone or someone residing there. I mean, it’s really scary.”
Chris Labrum, Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department director, said that the department has been in touch with the owners, and is holding them accountable for a quick timeline to make repairs.
“We’ve given them until next week, Thursday, week from today, to get a contractor and engineers involved and work in assessment, and we understand they’ve already begun efforts to do that,” Labrum said.
Labrum said that while his investigators have yet to determine the exact cause, he believes the recent dramatic change in temperature, contributed to the incident.
“In this case, we end up with water intrusion behind the facade that freezes,” Labrum said. “It cracks a lot of the facade. And then, actually, now, when we get warmer weather, though, this building’s concrete, the window areas, you’ve got wood and areas that will expand a little bit with the warmer weather.”
Elm St. between Market and Broadway remains blocked off, but Labrum said that the city is considering closing the left lane on Broadway, for safety and to prevent a further incident.
“We are concerned that heavy traffic on the street could potentially, again, loosen components that are further loose than what has already started to fall on this side and possibly cause a further issue.”
Labrum says people in the area should continue to avoid getting too close to the building. It’s been vacant for years.
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