Clark Street station reopens after Brooklyn Heights hotel marquee collapse

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn (WABC) -- No. 2 and 3 trains have resumed making stops at Clark Street in both directions after the conclusion of a Department of Buildings investigation following a marquee collapsed over the weekend.

Scaffolding has been installed to reinforce the marquee and ensure safety.

Subway service remained disrupted Monday after the Brooklyn hotel marquee came crashing down near the station over the weekend.

The MTA announced 2 and 3 trains would not be stopping at Clark Street in either direction. Subway riders were advised to consider boarding trains at nearby Borough Hall as an alternative.

The bigger of the two marquees on Henry Street came crashing down around 7 a.m. Sunday.

The 15-by-20-foot concrete and steel beam awning says the Hotel St. George, which opened more than 100 years ago. According to the Department of Buildings, the awning had corroded at several locations and engineers had similar concerns about a second awning on Clark Street.

While the subway operates underneath, the 12-story building, which was once the largest hotel in New York City, is now rented out by a company called Educational Housing Services, or EHS, which operates dorms.

No one was hurt, but had it been on a weekday morning, it could have been a different story.

Engineers met with MTA officials on Monday morning to assess the situation.

"This building has been, if you speak to many of the customers and the tenants that are in it, there have been issues for a little while that have not been resolved, and so when you look at the fact that there is an open violation for the building, you know, that says that the contract that the owner of the building needs to be more responsive in repairs," said NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow.

The Department of Buildings has now issued two violations to the property owner, St. George Hotel Associates, for failing to maintain the building.

Ironically, MTA officials did a walkthrough of the location Friday because of complaints and DOB violations, but didn't examine the awnings.

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