13 July 2009

337 Huntington Avenue

Many of you may already be aware, but this morning around 8:30 AM, the facade of 337 Huntington Avenue came crashing down to the sidewalk/street in what the Boston Police Department called a "construction accident." The building was undergoing roof work by Progressive Roofing, a firm based in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is not yet known if their actions led to the collapse of the facade which was about 200 feet in length and weighed several tons.

While Northeastern spokesperson Samantha Fodrowski said there did not appear to be injuries, media reports indicate that there was one police officer who suffered minor injuries. The officer was in the area working construction detail.

Huntington Avenue was closed down for a portion of the morning due to fears that the building might be structurally unsound. Inspectors have deemed that the building is not at risk of collapse, and the MBTA is now running. Students were evacuated from the building, and Northeastern is working with Boston's inspectional services division to determine if they can return to their residence hall or if they will need to be relocated to a different space by the University.

For more information as updates come in, you can check out the following web sites:

Boston Globe: www.boston.com
WHDH [NBC Boston]: www.whdh.com
The Boston Channel [ABC Boston]: www.thebostonchannel.com
WBZ-TV [CBS Boston: www.cbs4boston.com
The Boston Herald: www.bostonherald.com

Also, on Twitter, you can search for "#Northeastern" or "337 Huntington" to see users who have posted pictures and tweets about the situation.

1 comment:

Jake said...

This building was already unsafe. Debris was falling off this building weeks ago, with no scaffolding. Northeastern should be ashamed of themselves for putting students in such deplorable circumstances.