17 July 2009

Another 337 Huntington Update

Since our last update, there's been a few new developments with 337 Huntington Avenue.
  • Huntington Avenue is now open to traffic both ways / both sides. Pedestrian access to Opera Place / St. Stephen's Street is also open. Vehicles, however, are still prohibited from accessing St. Stephen's Street. Cars that need to reach North Lot should take Gainsborough St. or Forsyth St. to Hemenway Street and use the back entrance by Stetson Hall East.
  • Northeastern has been cited with a violation for operating an unsafe building at 337 Huntington Avenue. When the media inquired, Northeastern declined to comment adding more fuel to the fire regarding poor public relations practices and a lack of forthcoming-ness over the situation.
  • All students in 337 Huntington Avenue were relocated to Davenport Commons B this week and will be remaining there the rest of Summer II. They were able to gather all their belongings and move with the support of a moving company.
The Resident Student Association is here for all the students who were displaced and, as always, all on-campus students. We are working to bring programming to the students in Davenport Commons B, and any students having problems can e-mail the Resident Rapid Response Team for help at NortheasternRSA@Northeastern.edu.

14 July 2009

337 Huntington Avenue Incident Update

Northeastern University sent the following message out to students just a few minutes ago:

A message from NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
Message sent - 7/14/2009

Following the collapse of the front building cornice at 337 Huntington Avenue, the University is providing the following updates to the Northeastern community:

- There were no injuries related to this incident.

- All residents of 337 Huntington Avenue have been relocated.

- The university is working closely with structural engineers and the City of Boston to determine the cause of the incident and to make sure the building is safe for occupancy.

- It appears that the circumstances surrounding the incident are isolated to this building.

- We routinely evaluate our facilities and perform necessary maintenance. We take great pride and care in our work to maintain a safe Northeastern campus.

- University Student Affairs is working closely with the students who have been relocated to assist them in this transition.

- As a precautionary measure, the University will remove the remaining cornice on the side of the building.

- Members of the community are advised to avoid the area surrounding 337 Huntington Avenue and seek alternative routes. Some street closures will continue as the incident is cleaned up and investigated.

We will continue to provide updates to the Northeastern community as needed.

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.