Shapiro & Sons warehouse wall falls

(Photo by Dennise Carranza/Beacon staff) This section of the damaged warehouse was demolished after a supporting wall collapsed.

Early in February, one of the walls of the Shapiro & Sons warehouse on Ashland Street, which is being renovated this summer for the use of facilities, collapsed.

“It is unfortunate that it collapsed,” said James Stakenas, vice president of Administration and Finance. “It didn’t cause any other damage in the building though.”

According to Stakenas, the wall would have eventually been torn down to make way for renovations. After the wall facing the railroad tracks collapsed, the wall on the Ashland Street side was torn down for safety reasons.

Administration and construction workers believe that the wall collapsed due to faulty construction 30 years ago. The building was vacant, so no one was hurt.

Workers put plywood and fencing up on both sides of the site.

“Nothing changes in terms of using the building,” Stakenas said.

The brick building next to the site is also being torn down, and most of the space will be used for parking, according to Stakenas. The administration has not yet decided whether this lot will be for students or faculty. This will be determined by how much parking is lost by the new science building.

The whole building, all 30,000 square feet of it, will house the entire facilities department. Currently, the department is spread across campus, but this new building will consolidate all the shops, equipment, storage space, shipping and receiving, and offices.

The building will be rebuilt with a lower roof. This will allow for rooms with lower ceilings that cost less to heat. The roof will also be slanted to allow snow to slide off.

The brick building will be torn down soon, and the facilities department will begin to work this summer.

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