Three women were hurt when bricks fall from one building onto an adjacent store’s roof in Center City. NBC10’s Nefertiti Jaquez speaks to the father of one of the victims.
Three women were hurt after bricks crashed through the roof of a popular Center City store.
Bricks from a building on 1529 Walnut St. fell and crashed through the roof of Lululemon Athletica store on 1527 Walnut St. Tuesday around 3:25 p.m., according to Emergency Services Director Scott Mulderig.
Three 27-year-old women inside the Lululemon were hurt during the accident. They were taken to Hahnemann Hospital where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. They were later released.
Howard Edelman, the father of Allison Friedman, one of the victims, told NBC10 his daughter was shopping inside the store with two friends at the time of the accident.
"The toughest part is that it's your kid," he said while fighting back tears. "No matter how old. She said all of a sudden they heard rumbling and the next thing you know, she was at the bottom, buried."
Friedman, a newlywed and local teacher is recovering at home. While she's in pain, her father is happy she made it out alive.
"it could've been a lot worse," he said. "We're very, very lucky. She will be fine."
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Robert Mongeluzzi, a construction accident attorney who represented victims in the Market Street building collapse, was also at the scene of Tuesday's accident.
"It appears that the wall at the building at the corner of Walnut collapsed down on top of the Lululemon store," he said. "You can see a crack emanating out of one of the corners. It snowed last night and into today. Obviously thawing and freezing is always an issue that you have to take a look at when masonry walls collapse."
Louis Bove, who has a law office in the building and witnessed the accident, told NBC10 he was stunned by what happened.
"I have never had any problem with this building," Bove said. "The landlord is great. Our space is wonderful."
The property owner for the building on 1529 has a permit to do work, according to records. City officials said neither the building on 1529 Walnut St., which is owned by Pearl Properties, or Lululemon have a history of property maintenance violations.
NBC10 reached out to the owner of 1529 but have not yet heard back from him. City officials told NBC10 the owner hired his own engineer and contractors to investigate. The investigation into the cause of the accident continues.
