Demolition under way at site of AC garage collapse

John Curran

Monday, March 29, 2004 | 11:19 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- In the shadow of the Tropicana Casino and Resort's crumpled parking garage, the noise never stops -- the jackhammers and chain saws, the rivet-driving and the hammering.

There are giant excavators to lift debris, dump trucks to move it out and flatbed trucks to haul in timber used to fortify giant scaffolds.

The scaffolds and a construction bridge crisscross the collapsed end of the 10-story structure, which folded like a house of cards during a concrete pour Oct. 30, killing four construction workers.

The work goes on around the clock.

"I've had many sleepless nights," said Joseph Milano, 78, who lives next door. "Every day and every night, all the noise. We've had to grin and bear it."

Five months after the accident, the garage is now the focus of a delicate, closely scrutinized demolition project aimed at salvaging the structure without compromising an investigation into the cause.

Unlike stadium implosions, the rubble involved in this demolition project could hold clues to the cause of the collapse. For that reason, every step is being photographed and videotaped, and lawyers for the victims are keeping close tabs on it.

Late last month, work crews began removing debris in preparation for the most difficult work -- using concrete-cutting saws to cut the collapsed deck floors down to size before they are lifted out by an excavator and lowered down to Brighton Avenue.

In places where concrete cutting is impossible, the slabs will be broken up with hydraulic hammers, impact hammers and small wrecking balls.

Once removed, the major pieces will be identified and tagged for use as evidence, stored at an unidentified offsite location.

"You have to take the important pieces of the puzzle without jeopardizing the stability of the rest of the building," said Robert J. Mongeluzzi, who represents the widows of two victims.

When the demolition work is complete, one end of the block-long structure will be sheared off and then rebuilt, eventually completing the 2,400-space garage.

"This is a carefully planned and regulated dismantling process," said Keating Building Corp. -- the project's contractor -- in a prepared statement. "We are taking every precaution to ensure safety onsite while preserving anything that may be helpful to authorities."

The details of how, when and where, and the specifications of the equipment being used, are closely guarded secrets.

City construction officials did not respond to several inquiries about the work, nor would Tropicana or demolition contractor Brandenburg Industrial Service Co. comment.

Tropicana spokeswoman Maureen Siman referred calls to Keating Building Corp., whose spokesman -- hired public relations executive Jason Rocker -- gave little information about the work.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is to issue a report on the collapse by April 30, won't say yet what caused it.

Workers on the project have claimed the concrete pours were being rushed to meet the casino's plans to open the garage, part of a $265 million addition.

The addition, themed after old Havana and called The Quarter, will add a 502-room hotel tower and 60 stores, restaurants and nightclubs.

It was supposed to open this month. That has been pushed back to September.

A wrongful death suit filed by Mongeluzzi on behalf of the widows of ironworkers James P. Bigelow and Michael Wittland contends that concrete-pouring forms used to build the garage were prematurely removed from the structure and the walls and floors on the upper levels weren't properly connected.

Neighbors, meanwhile, endure the noise, flinching when they hear a loud one.

"We wish Tropicana well. We'd like to see the construction completed as soon as possible," said Nina Tyler, who lives in the 12-story Brighton Towers Condominium, next to the site.

The apartment building's residents -- many of them old or infirm -- were evacuated for one night after the collapse as a precaution. Some are still jittery.

"Listen, every time I hear a loud noise, I jump," Tyler said. "As soon as you hear the noise, you think it's coming down."

Milano's stately three-story Victorian home shook when the garage collapsed. He was having his morning coffee and toast when it happened, and was ordered out immediately. He spent a month in a rented home.

Now back in his home, he has watched the demolition preparations closely. He's impressed with the way the damaged sections have been fortified with steel braces, scaffolding and foot-thick slabs of lumber.

But he won't rest easy until the shattered parking decks have been removed safely.

"We're scared," he said. "They don't know what's going to happen, and neither do I."