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Work Stops At Berkman Plaza II After Collapse

Stop Work Order Issued

POSTED: Monday, December 17, 2007
UPDATED: 10:48 pm EST December 17, 2007

A week and a half after a garage collapse that claimed a construction worker's life, construction for the Berkman Plaza II project has ground to a halt.

Nearly two dozen people were hurt, and one man died after part of the six-story parking garage came crumbling down.

Willie Edwards III, 26, was trapped in the rubble on East Bay Street and found two days after the collapse. He was laid to rest last weekend.

Construction work has stopped at the garage at the Berkman Plaza II as well as at the condo tower itself, and things have been quiet as investigators try to figure out what went wrong.

The signs at the construction site say it all -- a stop work order has stopped activity, and piles of concrete sit idle.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators have done their initial site inspection and continue to analyze samples and to go over documents.

There are several theories as to what caused the deadly garage collapse, but no evidence has been made public.

City inspectors said they have no control over what happens at the construction site. The next step will come from the construction company and involves plans to remove the debris and rebuild the garage.

"We need to know what is going to happen. How far are they going to take it down, and is there something different that they are going to go back up with it," said Tom Goldsbury, of Building and Zoning.

The contractor, Choate Construction out of Atlanta, said they could not talk about the details of the project or rumors as to the collapse.

Although it was the unattached garage that collapse, there have been concerns about the tower being built right next door.

The owners of the Berkman Plaza II sent out a statement saying they were doing their own investigation. In the statement they said "they have no reason to believe that the residential building has been compromised in any way."

Nevertheless, they said they would also conduct a full and extensive investigation of the tower.

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