Allston building structurally sound
Common Ground, neighbors expected to reopen this week
The building housing the Allston restaurant where the facade partially collapsed and injured two people on Sunday is structurally sound and surrounding businesses should be re-opened by the end of the week, city officials and engineers say.
Inspectional Services Department Commissioner Buddy Christopher told reporters yesterday that the news “was much better than we had hoped for.” Christopher and structural engineers were seen investigating the building from all angles, even checking the durability of its roof.
“The damage that was done to the building is not structurally compromising the building at all,” Christopher said.
“Everything that failed is on the exterior of the envelope of the building. So, we’re going to be removing the balance of the parapet that’s up on that roof right now,” he added. “There’s a brick panel, that’s also coming out. So, all the work will be done from the exterior of the building.”
Bob O’Guin, the owner of the Common Ground Bar and Grill at 85 Harvard Ave., which took the brunt of the damage along the building, said he was standing in the exact spot of the collapse with his son a half hour before.
“It was like thunder,” said O’Guin, who was downstairs at the time and rushed upstairs and ran around the building to make sure everyone was OK. “I just wanted to make sure there was nobody underneath the rubble, I was looking for hands and stuff. Near the hair salon, they all came out and they pulled a lady out.”
The identities of the two victims who were transported to the hospital have not yet been released.
O’Guin, who has owned the bar for about 10 years, said he hopes his business will be back to normal soon.
“I’m worried about my employee’s income,” he said. “That’s one of my main points. I have another restaurant, I have other things to do. But my employees, this is their job.”
A forensic analysis has begun to determine the cause of the collapse. Christopher suspects what he calls “freeze/thaw” contributed, adding that extreme winds the past few weeks may have dislodged a block, which then becomes a domino effect of more dislodgement.
“As water works its way into a masonry joint and then it freezes, it expands,” he said. “It sometimes can compromise the mortar joints.”
According to building inspection reports obtained by the Herald, the building received only one unrelated violation in the past two years for a “failure to secure a permit to install signage at the side of the building.”
‘It was like thunder.’ BOB O’GUIN owner of Common Ground, on the partial collapse of the facade where his restaurant is located