DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — As some residents of an Iowa apartment building that partially collapsed remained unaccounted for on Wednesday, officials in the city of Davenport say they were able to rescue several pets from a safer area of the six-story building.
Officials said rescue teams entered a part of the building on Tuesday that was deemed a lower risk and they rescued several animals, which were brought to the local Humane Society. A statement from the city said: “Crews continued to search for human activity and none was detected.”
The city statement also said: “The stability of the building continues to degrade. The recovery of any unaccounted for individuals remains the priority of the City as operational planning progresses.”
Davenport authorities have not provided an update on the number of people missing since Tuesday, when they said five people were unaccounted for, including two who could still be in wreckage that was too dangerous to search. The three others are not believed to have been in the building when it started collapsing Sunday evening, said state Rep. Monica Kurth.
The city has been criticized by some who said it was moving too quickly toward demolishing the 116-year-old brick and steel structure after it partially collapsed, with initial plans to start the process as early as Tuesday morning. After one woman was found alive in an apartment on Monday night, protesters showed up to the site, holding signs that said “Find Them First” and “Who is in the Rubble?” Some used a megaphone to shout out names of residents. The building had 53 tenants in about 80 units, the police chief said.
Built as a hotel, the building had more recently been used as apartments, and tenants had been allowed to remain even as bricks began falling from the building.
On Wednesday, the Red Cross opened a temporary shelter several miles away where displaced tenants could stay, get meals and seek services.
Mayor Mike Matson confirmed at a news conference Tuesday that not all the residents were accounted for, and officials said immediate demolition was never intended, but they did want to quickly stage the site for the tear-down. The woman's rescue prompted officials to see if they could safely enter and ensure others weren't inside.
“This could be a place of rest for some of the unaccounted,” Matson said. The city is trying to determine how to bring down what remains of the building while maintaining the dignity of people who may have been killed, he said.
Later Tuesday, there were no signs that authorities were conducting any sort of search. About 50 people had gathered outside a perimeter of fencing and police tape. Children drew hearts in chalk on the pavement, and a candlelight vigil included five minutes of silence in honor of the five people still missing.
Fire Marshal James Morris said explosives will not be used on the building, which is near other structures and is “unstable and continues to worsen.” Removing the debris that is propping up the rest of the building could cause further collapse, he said.
“We’re very sympathetic to the possibility that there’s two people” still left inside, Morris said as he fought back tears.
He said there will be an investigation into what caused the collapse but that it's unclear so far whether a criminal investigation is warranted.
It's unclear what caused the collapse, which left a gaping hole in the center of what was once the Davenport Hotel, a building listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Built in 1907, the structure had been renovated into a mixed-use residential and commercial building.
The building was designed so the exterior brick and steel frame support each other, so the loss of exterior brick can threaten the building's integrity, said structural engineer Larry Sandhaas.
“When you lose the brick, you lose the stability of the building,” Sandhaas said.
Building workers had been completing interior and exterior repairs in recent months, city records show. Reports of falling bricks were part of that work, said Rich Oswald, the city’s director of development and neighborhood services.
The fire marshal said Tuesday a structural engineer hired by the owner determined that the building was safe enough to remain occupied during the repairs.
Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation activating assistance programs for the residents left homeless. After demolition was ordered, residents were prevented from going back inside for belongings due to the instability.
Davenport Hotel, L.L.C., owned by Andrew Wold, acquired the building in 2021 in a property deal worth $4.2 million, according to county records.
The city declared the building a nuisance in May 2022 “due to numerous solid waste violations” involving its overflowing dumpster, court records show.
Wold did not contest the nuisance declaration and inspectors noted similar problems 19 times between then and March 2023, records show. The city took civil enforcement action, and a judge ordered Wold to pay a $4,500 penalty after he did not appear in court.
Tuesday, the city filed a new enforcement action against Wold, saying that he had failed to maintain the property “in a safe, sanitary, and structurally sound condition” before the collapse. The city is seeking a $300 fine.
City inspectors reviewed the ongoing repairs three days before the collapse, records show. Plans called for replacing 100 feet of brick to comply with city code starting May 25, and an interior cinder block wall with rebar and grout was partially installed as of last week, according to online inspection and permitting notes.
“Wall bracing will be installed per engineer’s design,” the notes said. “Engineer will stop over periodically to ensure work is being done per his design. City inspector will stop over periodically to see progress.”
An email sent to an attorney believed to be representing Wold was not immediately returned Tuesday night.
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This story has been corrected to show that the city is seeking a $300 fine from the building owner, not $3,000.
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McFetridge and Fingerhut reported from Des Moines. Associated Press contributors include Ryan J. Foley in Iowa City, Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, and Beatrice Dupuy in New York City.
