Johnson City Deems Allen Street Apartment House Unsafe

Johnson City is securing an apartment house on Allen Street that was the scene of a partial collapse in February and giving the owner a couple months to fix the property before the Village takes more serious action.

A portion of the rear of the 3-story apartment house at 59 Allen Street crumbled shortly after 9 p-m February 17, forcing residents to flee into the cold.  There were no injuries but the Village this week declared the building unsafe or dangerous to the public.

No one was living in the right-rear portion of the building when it came down, leaving a pile of cinder blocks in the driveway.  Workers could be seen outside the building the next morning cleaning up debris while residents told reporters they weren’t sure whether it was safe to go back to their homes.

The Johnson City Village Board held a public hearing on the proposal to secure the building prior to a vote yesterday ordering the owner to start actions required by the Code Department by September 27 and completed by November 27.  If the actions had not been completed by then, the Village would take further action and assess the expenses to the property.