As workers for the Erie Parking Authority arrived at work on Monday, they were met with a surprise. The facade of the East 10th Street Parking Garage stairwell was starting to separate from the building.
Executive director Christopher Friday said they moved swiftly to secure the leaning piece.
“We immediately called our engineers,” said Friday. “They came in from Cleveland. We had local contractors come and secure the area there to make sure everything is safe and for us to be able to continue operations.
Contractors wrapped a cable wire around the leaning facade to stabilize the piece as they await the documents and approvals from everyone involved in the repair.
“It’s a large structure there, so what needs to be done is it reattached to the building itself, and that is done via welding,” said Friday. We have to be able to coordinate services with the elevator folks, contractors and the steelworkers to make sure they all work together. Being it’s the holidays, and right after the holidays, it’s really hard to get everything put together. We have to make sure we have the right bid documents, and once that is done, we can move forward.”
Friday said the engineer’s evaluation deemed that the piece is secure. He said the area is safe to walk past on the sidewalk below. Cloud 9 Wine Bar & Restaurant, which sits just below the stairwell, is safe and open to the public. The elevator, however, is closed temporarily, given how close it is to the affected area.
Friday was working on Wednesday, communicating with the respective parties to get the final documents secured to move forward with the repairs. He would not put a specific date for the repairs; however, he said he expects them sooner rather than later.