Third Avenue remains closed in East Village due to unstable bricks on building

EAST VILLAGE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Shoring operations continued Thursday on an unstable section of the facade of the St. Mark Apartment House, a co-op at 115 East 9th Street.

The unstable facade section at the building at 115 East Ninth St. has closed Third Avenue to all traffic from East Ninth Street to East 10th Street.

There is no estimated time that the street will reopen.

A caller reported a 10-by-10 foot section of the facade starting to separate from the building on the 15th floor Wednesday evening. No one was injured and no debris actually fell from the site.

A building inspector determined a portion of the facade at the co-op had pulled away from the building and could potentially fall.

Three apartments in the building were evacuated, and pedestrian and vehicular traffic is blocked on Ninth between Third and Fourth avenues.

A sidewalk shed had previously been built around the building. However, five storefronts along the ground level of the affected building were told to close for the day.

Firefighters have built a temporary wooden brace to keep bricks from falling from the 14th through 16th floors. The New York City Fire Department will remain on the scene with one engine until the facade is inspected by the engineer.

A boom truck is being used for more permanent repairs.

The building has 17 open Buildings Department violations, including one for facade safety. There is also an ongoing violation for failure to certify correction of a prior violation, which will require payment of a penalty to DOB.

The building failed its last facade inspection, leading to the installation of a sidewalk shed. Owner East 9th St. Apartments Corp. applied for permits to fix the building last year.