Demolition of Compromised Carroll St. Building to Begin Tuesday

What should have been a quiet start to a holiday week has turned into a nightmare of loss and displacement for a handful of families in Carroll Gardens, after early Monday morning.

Demolition of the multi-family dwelling will begin at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, officials said. Residents of the building will be allowed limited entry with an escort to remove personal items in the interim period.

"They will begin stabilizing the site tonight," said Councilman Brad Lander, D-Carroll Gardens, whose office will help facilitate outreach between the Office of Emergency Management, Dept. of Buildings and homeowners.

"They will install fencing, a large crane and essentially demolish everything by hand. What we want is to avoid further collapse."

Carroll Street between Smith and Court streets will be closed off while a large crane operated by J. Tucci Construction Corp. works from the top down to remove the remaining structure from the footprint. The summer camp located at will continue to operate, but children will be restricted from entering the back gymnasium, officials said.

"It's possible that the roof [of 241 Carroll Street] may contain asbestos, so they will treat that as they might," said Lander. "It will be a slow process."

In the meantime, abutting structures, including 240 Carroll Street, 115 and 117 First Place have also been evacuated and residents will have to relocate until the demolition is completed.

A building manager for 240 Carroll Street assured owners of units inside that security would be stationed outside of the residence, as the FDNY had broken through all of the doors in order to alert inhabitants of the incident.

Residents on the scene declined to comment, as they were busy collecting personal belongings in between picking up children from school and finding alternate living arrangements for the next two weeks.

Still, beneath all of the rubble inside the alley between 241 Carroll Street and PS 58, there was still the lingering sentiment that things could have been far worse. 

"When you can see there are kids bunkbeds at the edge of the wall and imagine if they had been in them, obviously it is a miracle that everyone is safe and alive," said Lander.