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Natural gas explosion at the Realty Tower Building

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Murph 9000

Murph 9000

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Jun 26, 2021
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This one is both a failure and success, at the same time. A 100 year old, historic, 12 story, steel frame office building that was converted into apartments. Early reports say that workers who were clearing out old utilities in the basement cut through an abandoned gas service line that was still connected to the gas main (i.e. abandoned in place, capped somewhere in the building, but still very much "live"). The ground floor and basement are massively damaged, obliterated might not be too strong a word, but the structure is apparently stable for now. NTSB are investigating, as apparently gas is their domain because it moves. The engineering of the structure seems to have performed extremely well for such a devastating explosion in the basement.

NTSB: Natural gas explosion at the Realty Tower Building
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History

CBS: Explosion in downtown Youngstown, Ohio, leaves one dead and multiple injured
CBS: Photos show extensive damage caused by explosion in downtown Youngstown, Ohio
 
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Abandoned in place or still live but forgotten?
Hot tapping all unknown pipe in the ground is expensive, but sometimes the only way to be safe and sure.
 
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From the first link above.
"The line was not supposed to have gas in it".
Famous last words.

That could also infer that they knew about the gas pipe, but then did not find an outlet and do a simple sniff test to confirm, or purge it.

OMG rather poor choice of words under the circumstances.
"His smile lit up the room."

--Einstein gave the same test to students every year. When asked why he would do something like that, "Because the answers had changed."
 
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Twice, doing electrical work in San Francisco, I discovered that the old gas lighting lines in the ceiling were still live.

I proposed to one owner that they re-install the gas lights, but there was a lack of interest shown.

Last I looked, there was a working gas light at Heinhold's First and Last Chance Saloon, in Oakland.



spsalso
 
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Updates:
and it's looking like the deadline won't be met.

YSU prof says building in imminent danger of collapse.

says no permits were ever issued for the work being done.

And today, a widespread evac order including the entire YSU campus and student housing due to a gas leak downtown.
 
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This structure acquired some new cracks since Google Earth in 2019. It's just over one block away from the Realty bldg. and was being renovated.

Untitled_tcj8fx.jpg

WKBN27

Screenshot_at_2024-06-18_18-40-46_ymvi72.jpg

Google Earth
 
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It's unstable, so we have to demolish it, after we stabilise it. Oh, and we may or may not be able to properly remediate the asbestos.

I might be cynical, but it sounds awfully like a bunch of greed-driven excuses from a property owner to use the disaster as an excuse to clear a historic building out of the way, with the bonus of not having to do a costly asbestos remediation.

It seems to me that if they are able to stabilise it sufficiently to perform some sort of slow-ish top-down demolition (what their plan sounds like), then they would equally be able to fully stabilise it and repair a historic landmark. I can fully believe that the structure is currently compromised, but it seems to be doing a pretty good job of standing for now; leading me to believe that it would be possible (at a cost) to reinstate the ground floor slab and any sheer bracing that was compromised.
 
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The didn't tear down the World Trade Center towers when the bomb did the same job to a number of floors in the garage.

It's possible that there is so much damage to the rest of the structure that repair costs exceed tearing it down and building a clean replacement. The blast video I posted from the 12th floor looks like even there significant damage was done.
 
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Yeah, the elevator shaft and stairwells took a big hit from overpressure. Presumably any other risers/ducts could have suffered similarly.
 
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Though in the 12th floor video it looked like other than the elevator doors everything damaged was put there to cover up the original building, just cosmetic stuff.
And similar to the first floor. All of the ugly clad panels were blown off.
Other than the ground floor slab how much structural damage was done?

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed
 
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The damage to this building reminds me of 90 West St in NYC that was damaged during 9/11 ( see page 6). Even though there was major damage they were able to restore it to new life ( As mentioned previously, it could be the owner just looking for an opportunity to tear it down. Hopefully someone on the city council can persuade them to keep this great historic landmark.
 
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The plan states that demolition will begin at the top of the building, starting with a crane and a wrecking ball. The structure will be taken down floor by floor. Fencing will be placed to encompass areas where work is being done. Regarding shoring of the building, missing cross members will be replaced and a beam will be added to fortify an upright column that was damaged, according to the plan.
Click to expand...

Now I'm not a demolition expert, but a wrecking ball seems like possibly the worst choice of tool for an unstable building where sudden total collapse is to be avoided. And again, we have the contradiction that they are going to essentially fully stabilise the structure (by the sound of it), before being forced to demolish it due to instability. Ok, maybe they don't need to fully stabilise it, just enough to prevent the basement through 2nd floor suddenly failing while the upper levels are imprecisely pounded with a wrecking ball. It still seems contradictory, and like an excuse to clear a historic landmark that could have been rehabilitated (and maybe avoid needing to do a costly asbestos remediation?).

I would have thought this would be a job for the relative precision of a long reach excavator with demolition shears.
 
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Since it had apartments, any chance rent control comes into play as well?
 
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It was converted from offices to apartments in 2009, so there shouldn't have been any historic rent control on it.
 
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Nevermind - I forgot and thought this was in New York City.

The truly sh*tty part is that, while they are going to allow firefighters to retrieve personal items, all the items must fit into a 22 x 14 x 9 inch bag. I think that is around the same size as a single carry on for an airplane. I expect in a number of cases the firefighter will return empty handed, unable to locate the item(s).

If it takes a wrecking ball to bring it down then it is stable enough to move a lot more than that. Maybe pianos and furniture stay, but clothing, photos, books, and other items that can be carried out in multiple trips would be fine. The owners can sign waivers if they want to go to gather their belongings.

The demolition contract is $1.8M, which is far smaller than the cost to repair, asbestos or not, and the owners get to write off the investment as a business loss.

They have owned the building for about 6 years.

"YO Properties 47 LLC bought the occupied Realty Tower Apartments, 47 Central Federal St., on June 1, 2018, for $2 million."
 
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It looks like the firefighters won't be going after all. Their union has made a demand they not go.
 
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