Wall Collapses at Crescent Avenue Construction Project

/ Todd_Lappin

wallcollapse

A wall collapsed yesterday at a home renovation jobsite on the corner of Crescent Avenue and Moultrie in South Bernal. Fortunately, Bay City News reports no one was injured:

The collapse was reported at 501 Crescent Ave. just after 10 a.m., according to a fire department spokesman.

The two-story residential building is currently under construction. No injuries have been reported, fire officials said.

The city’s Department of Building Inspection has been called to the scene.

A June 2016 Google streetview of the site shows what the project looked like before the accident.  Neighbor T. adds that the property has been — and remains — a magnet for drama:

The house at Crescent and Moultrie that collapsed Tuesday morning has been undergoing the most recent of MANY unfortunate renovations.  The crew that was working on it today scattered/disappeared just as it was collapsing.  Then, after hours of police investigating and photographs/red tagging it, they came back after dark and were demolishing more. At 7:30 pm there were 2 police cars on the scene with three guys face-down on the street, I imagine arrested for trespassing a red tag.

PHOTO: 501 Crescent yesterday, courtesy of a Bernalwood reader

11 thoughts on “Wall Collapses at Crescent Avenue Construction Project”

  2. We live nearby and I am utterly not surprised by this. I hope that nobody was hurt. That site has been in various states of disrepair for at least a year, and we’ve complained to DBI multiple times.

  3. I live on this block and I’d been voicing my concerns about this site with Inspector Simas at DBI for months. He was always responsive but I never got the feeling that anyone in charge was paying attention to some pretty obviously sketchy practices.

    This is the same property that had the garage collapse onto a neighbor’s home in the early 2000s, and in 2014 the house was tagged for “Illegally-dug basement, and a covered breezeway being converted to living space.”

  4. Yes, a magnet for drama- some years back a Mercedes sedan collided in a spectacular fashion with the side of the house as well. The wrecked car was there for some time. The house damage remained for years.
    I walked past the house yesterday morning 9 am and it was standing. One guy was there, not doing a whole lot. By the time I walked past it again at 10:15 am it was down and the firemen were there. I think the collapse of the building was “assisted” because they did not want to pay for a demo permit. Shady all around.

  5. walking by this place I wondered why they were working to preserve this particular facade. Does seem shady to me.

  7. Not like it wasn’t visible or anything! Corner house on a busy street. Months and months of neighbors contemplating: if this falls the wrong way pedestrian(s) get killed. Inspectors have been driving by it daily for those months. And didn’t make a note? Yet so many others get busted for minor permit infractions.

    But you know, keep the faith in DBI. Even as we go 3rd World locally as well as nationally.

  8. There are quite a few complaints, three in 2016 alone.:
    http://dbiweb.sfgov.org/dbipts/Default2.aspx?page=AddressData2&ShowPanel=CTS

    And building permits, six since 2014 (but none completed in that time):
    http://dbiweb.sfgov.org/dbipts/Default2.aspx?page=AddressData2&ShowPanel=BID

    If these links don’t work, try this one: http://dbiweb.sfgov.org/dbipts/?page=address&StreetNumber=501&StreetName=crescent&StreetSuffix=AV&Unit=&Block=&Lot=

    The DBI permit tracking system is always interesting!

  9. If only there was an elected official representing Bernal who would respond to constituents. But who would even think of calling ours?

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