"Sheer Luck" Cromwell Center Didn't Collapse When It Was Open

The sub-structure that supported the Cromwell Center, the borough's largest and most widely used recreation facility, was in "seriously deteriorated condition" before it finally gave way and crumbled into Upper New York Bay last May. (Photo: Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)

Staten Island

It was sheer luck the Cromwell Center did not collapse when it was still open to the public, according to the Staten Island Advance.

The sub-structure that held the borough’s largest and most widely used recreation facility was in “seriously deteriorated condition” before it finally gave way and crumbled into Upper New York Bay on May 26, according to an internal Parks Department report obtained by the Advance through a Freedom of Information Law request.

The report also reveals the Tompkinsville building would likely require a costly and time-consuming rebuild, placing its future in serious doubt.

McLaren Engineering - a firm that specializes in marine structures and forensic examinations of building collapses – conducted the investigation for Parks on June 4, about a week after the Cromwell partially fell into the harbor.

Parks had closed the building about a month earlier to begin $4.4 million in repairs, including replacing the roof and three support piles and reinforcing the bulkhead. They had hoped the repairs would take a year.

However, the building may have been in worse shape than the city had suspected.

According to McLaren’s report, the timber piles that held the deck up were in “seriously deteriorated condition.” Many of them were incapable of bearing weight and others were missing altogether, the engineers found. Though numerous repairs were made to the piling over past three decades, “most have failed and are no longer functional.”

Read More:

Staten Island's Cromwell Center was a ticking time bomb
Staten Island Advance - October 25, 2010 - By Peter N. Spencer

Cromwell Recreation Center Collapses; No one hurt
A Walk In The Park - May 27, 2010

Cromwell Recreation Center Collapses; No one hurt

The Parks Department's Cromwell Recreation Center in Tompkinsville is partially collapsed. The facility had been closed to begin a renovation and no one was inside. (Photos: Staten Island Advance)

STATEN ISLAND

Cromwell Center, the aging Tompkinsville recreation facility about to undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation, partially collapsed into the harbor yesterday when the right side of the pier it sits atop crumbled, according to a report by The Staten Island Advance.

The recreation center has been closed to the public awaiting the start of construction, and no one was in the building at the time. No one was hurt. 

Michael Bonanno was working out in the weight room at Lyons Pool across the street when he heard a low rumble, "like a truck going over a speed bump," he said. Then Cromwell’s alarm bell went off, and fire trucks arrived.

A second collapse occurred while firefighters were about to inspect the damage. "I heard them banging, and all of a sudden, ‘Get out!’ and that’s when they ran like hell," said John Mullarkey who lives in Bay Street Landing across the street.

The early consensus was that the structure could not be saved, and some bystanders thought they could see the building listing further as they stood watching.

"They want a Cromwell Center, but they’re going to have to build it on land somewhere," said Borough President James Molinaro.

READ ABOUT CROMWELL CENTER'S LONG HISTORY 

But Parks Department Commissioner Adrian Benepe said engineers believe the rear of the 1938 structure is still solid and might be salvageable.

The front-right corner of the building, though, "is in imminent state of collapse," FDNY Incident Commander Chief James Leonard said, and it already had shifted five and a half inches in the first two hours following the arrival of emergency responders.

Firefighters perched in a bucket atop a ladder truck kept an eye on the structure to detect any signs of movement.

Closed to the public in April, the center was days away from undergoing the beginning of a $4.4 million construction project which would have included a roof replacement, bulkhead stabilization, installation of three support piles and corrosion prevention, Benepe said. The contractor, RB Conway and Sons, had not yet started work.

Read More including Video:

Sea claims part of Staten Island recreation center as Cromwell collapses; no one hurt

Staten Island Advance - May 27, 2010 By -  Maura Yates

Staten Island's Cromwell Recreation Center Collapses

A collapse at the Cromwell Center in Tompkinsville left a corner of the building in the water. Cromwell is SI's only Parks Department recreation center. (Photo courtesy of Marilyn Miller)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A "major" collapse of the Cromwell Center in Tompkinsville is being reported, and numerous emergency officials are on the scene, according to the State Island Advance.

There are no injuries reported and nobody is believed to be trapped inside the building, according to emergency officials who conducted initial searches.

Click here for a map of the location.

A pylon at the front of the building on Pier 6 has collapsed, according to an account from the scene, and the front right corner of the building is in the water.

According to an employee at a nearby business, the collapsed was foreshadowed by an ominous noise. 

"We could hear the cracking and pieces started falling off," the witness said. "Within 10 minutes, the whole front section went down."

'Major' collapse at Staten Island's Cromwell Center; no injuries reported

Staten Island Advance - May 26, 2010

Photo: SI Advance.