Tropicana Atlantic City 5-story garage collapses - 3 men trapped

Fox News Alert ("BONG!") | 10.30.03

[michigander]

At Least Two Dead In Tropicana Casino Garage Collapse

New Garage Was Under Construction

POSTED: 11:12 a.m. EST October 30, 2003
UPDATED: 11:49 a.m. EST October 30, 2003

A least two people have died in a massive parking-garage collapse at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NBC affiliate WMGM reports.

12 ambulances were at the collapse scene.

Officials at the scene were doing a head count of workers.

All traffic is blocked for a four-block radius around the casino.

Reports indicate that several people may still be trapped in the debris and at least five floors of the garage collapsed at the top of the 10-story garage.

[finnman69]

Not difficult to figure out at all. When your pur concrete you keep careful records of the pours and the concrete trucks delivery times and time the batch has been mixing. There will be records of the PSI strength concrete used and records of the proper steel reinforcement.

Most likely this was caused by improper shoring, but is unclear to me how far along this structure was. It looks almost complete to me, so likely the concrete was poured some time ago.

[Dog]

There are reports of between 30 to 100 people who worked in that area..

[finnman69]

looking at the aerial photos I see perimeter columns still standing where the floor slabs sheared away. Clearly the top slab fell pancaking the other floors.

[Dog]

They are worried about another collapse taking place..

[AnAmericanMother]

Lift-slab construction will indeed probably be ruled the cause of this collapse. Looking at the photo, it seems most likely.

The weak point is the fittings that hold the lift jacks in place as the precast concrete floor is jacked into its final position. Uneven jacking or lateral forces cause failure in one fitting, then it spreads from that point like dominoes.

Details are given in this book, which is well worth finding and reading if you want the engineering problems inherent in structural failures explained for the layman (that's me!)

Why Buildings Fall Down It appears the book has been recently revised - I have the old edition. It discusses in detail the L'Ambience Plaza collapse and the weaknesses of lift-slab construction.

The authors have a very clear and amusing style, and explain things well. The book includes a lot of famous structural failures (like Galloping Gertie and the Kansas City skywalk collapse) as well as interesting ones you never heard of. In a retrospectively scary note to the Empire State Building non-collapse due to the plane collision right after WWII, the author concludes that with improved navigation equipment a repeat of such an event is unlikely . . . :-(

[michigander]

[Dog]

That whole building is suspect now.....

[Dog]

Search crews are in the building....per CBS 3 in Philly.

[finnman69]

Not sure its lift slab construction looking at the pics. It looks like traditional flat plate to me.

[mhking]

Construction company is Aztar Corporation.

Co-owned by Tony Soprano?

[Dog]

Sorry Mike.....Aztar owns the Trop... I'm still looking for the construction company.

[AnAmericanMother]

I was assuming that they were almost done and lifting the top floor into place - otherwise the floors still attached to the older garage would not have been as high as they are. But unless that was the case, you are right because the LH side wouldn't look like that.

Salvadori's book mentions a traditionally constructed (but prefab) building in England that failed because the floors were not firmly attached to the wall joists - lazy contractors had not connected the fittings and filled the resultant voids with rubbish and scrap concrete. I think the top 6-8 floors partially collapsed when an explosion after a natural gas leak pushed the wall out far enough for the floor sections to fall . . .

What is your take on possible cause?

[michigander]

UPDATED: 12:11 p.m. EST October 30, 2003

The 2,400 space, 10-story parking garage on Brighton Avenue between Atlantic and Pacific avenues supports on one side an 18-story hotel tower. Both are still under construction. The part of the parking garage at the end of the site opposite the tower collapsed.

"I heard all those floors go. The whole tower shook, like it was a miniature earthquake," said Jim McNeill, 56, a caulker who was working on the building when it collapsed.

McNeill said he looked down from the tower and saw five men lying on the ground. Only one was moving.

"It's a real good possibility that we lost a couple of guys today," McNeill said.

Wives of construction workers began arriving at scene looking for their husbands.

"He was working up there last night, I know," said one distraught woman as she searched for co-workers of her husband in the crowd gathered at corner of Atlantic and Brighton avenues.

[Dog]

They are flying the Governor to the scene ASAP.

[finnman69]

"We're here today to celebrate the tremendous group effort that has safely and expertly erected The Quarter, which represents a bold new endeavor for Tropicana, and an era of renewal for Atlantic City," Gomes said.

Joining Gomes at the topping-off ceremony, were representatives from lead designers WAT&G architects and Keating Building Corp., which managed construction and design/build, as well as members of the 23 unions that have comprised the labor force on the project since the groundbreaking in April of 2002.

[finnman69]

Press Release Source: Tropicana Casino and Resort

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030828/phth032_1.html

Topping-Off Ceremony for Tropicana's The Quarter Indicates Brisk Pace for $225 Million Expansion Project
Thursday August 28, 4:33 pm ET
Final Beam in Place Means New Jersey's Largest Hotel is Nearly Complete


ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- It may have seemed like the conclusion of jobs well done today as the final steel beam of the Tropicana Casino and Resort's new hotel was fastened into place.
ADVERTISEMENT


But, actually, it was just the beginning as the structure that is about to become New Jersey's largest hotel assumed its rightful place as a resort powerhouse on the Atlantic City skyline.

"There's a new landmark in town, and its name is Tropicana," said Dennis Gomes, president of Resort Operations.

Today's topping-off ceremony for The Quarter project signaled that Tropicana's $225 million expansion is in full swing, and right on time. The Quarter will offer an additional 40 new dining, entertainment and retail experiences, and when The Quarter is combined with the existing facility, Tropicana will offer in excess of over 60 venues - approximately three times larger than any other existing casino in Atlantic City.

Renderings offered a peek at what's to come upon completion, including a 31-story hotel tower, the 2,400-space parking garage and, most significantly, a 220,000-square-foot dining, entertainment and retail project that takes Atlantic City visitors to levels of excitement not yet experienced on the East Coast.

With a streetscape that reflects back to the height of sophistication, romance and indulgence in Old Havana, Cuba, The Quarter will include icon restaurants from New York, Philadelphia and Las Vegas, live music venues, distinctive bars and restaurants, and national and regional retailers.

"We're here today to celebrate the tremendous group effort that has safely and expertly erected The Quarter, which represents a bold new endeavor for Tropicana, and an era of renewal for Atlantic City," Gomes said.

Joining Gomes at the topping-off ceremony, were representatives from lead designers WAT&G architects and Keating Building Corp., which managed construction and design/build, as well as members of the 23 unions that have comprised the labor force on the project since the groundbreaking in April of 2002.

The Tropicana's new Havana Tower will add 502 rooms to the Tropicana's accommodations offer, bringing the total number of rooms to 2,127 to achieve the ranking of largest hotel in the state. On its top floor will be four luxuriously appointed boardrooms, equipped with state-of-the-art technological capabilities, and offering both ocean and bay views, and four convention and hospitality suites, with floor-to-ceiling windows. On its fourth floor, The Quarter will present 20,400 square feet of meeting space in 21 separate rooms. Seven on-site certified meeting planners will advise and see to the needs of corporate guests.

But the big picture goes beyond facts and figures: The Quarter aims to bring the East Coast its first Las Vegas-style experience - right in the heart of Atlantic City.

State Sen. Bill Gormley, Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, and City Councilman Dennis Mason were on hand to laud the project as a harbinger of the region's future as a destination point.

The Quarter is set to open in spring of 2004.

About Tropicana:

Tropicana Casino and Resort encompasses 14 acres and has ocean beach frontage of 220 yards along the famed Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Tropicana is operated by Aztar Corporation (NYSE: AZR - News), a publicly traded company that also operates Tropicana Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ramada Express Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nevada, Casino Aztar in Caruthersville, Missouri, and Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana.

Logos, renderings and photos are available at www.tropicana.net/tropart.

[finnman69]

http://www.keatingweb.com/html/index.shtml