Remember the fire back in March at those apartments under construction on West Dallas next to the cemetery that destroyed the whole complex except for the parking garage? No big deal if you don’t, because you’d need to adjust your memory anyway. A reader notes to Swamplot that the surviving parking garage is now being demolished as well, months after the singed stick-frame structures around it at JLB Parters’ would-have-been Axis Apartments were carted away. So now you can remember the fire so bad they had to tear the whole thing down — though it took them a while to give up on the garage.
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If you forgot about the daring last-minute rescue of a trapped construction worker at 2400 W. Dallas St., here’s a refresher.
- Previously on Swamplot: She Didn’t Start the Axis Apartments Fire, but She Was Trying to Fight It; The Sorry Scene on West Dallas St., the Morning After the Axis Apartments Fire; Here’s That Dramatic Video of the Last-Second Rescue at the Axis Apartments; The Axis Apartments Under Construction on West Dallas and Montrose Are on Fire Now
Photos: Swamplot inbox
On Second Thought, Scrap That
Was the integrity of the garage compromised? Or is this a fact of claiming a ‘total loss’ for insurance? Or did I miss something?
The wall facing the fire looked pretty bad from the street – deep pock marks and exposed rebar. Probably cheaper to demo and rebuild than to try to repair.
Sad fact that the garage (housing cars) was so much better built than the apartments( housing humans).
I’m trying to imagine what would happen if they had made basic repairs to the parking garage, then built apartments around it, leased them up, and operated them without incident — and then tried to sell the project. Who gets stuck with indemnity in the event of a hypothetical structural failure? Even if the odds are remote and even if the buyer is indemnified by somebody, how might that impact a buyer’s cap rate? It can’t be good.
I hate those guys. They still haven’t paid out on any insurance money yet.
Two months ago and HFD employee told me the parking garage would be torn down due to structural damage from the fire.
*an
There is no way any structural engineer would have signed off on that parking garage after it had been exposed to fire like that. The properties of the material change dramatically after exposure to fire.
Frankie,
Humans don’t come with internal combustion engines and thus don’t pose as much of a fire threat as vehicles.
A similar fire occurred at the Jackson Hill Apartments (northwest corner of Waugh & Memorial) when they were under construction. They saved that garage.
I was expecting them to save this garage. Even if the portion adjacent to the fire was beyond repair, they should still be able to just demo the affected portion. I trust they know what their doing.