News

Demolition of Sequoia Building halted after wall collapse

December 2, 2011 7:00 am by Tracey Taylor

An unintended wall collapse on the Haste side of the Sequoia Building put a temporary halt on demolition work Wednesday. Photo: Tracey Taylor

The demolition of the Sequoia Building at 2441 Haste Street was temporarily halted after part of an exterior wall on Haste Street accidentally collapsed on Wednesday, causing a violation of the demolition permit. The result is that the building will now be taken down to a lower height than originally planned.

Kenneth Ent, the owner of the building, which suffered a devastating fire on November 18th, was issued a revised permit on Thursday which allows the demolition to take the storefront wall on Telegraph Avenue to a height no higher than 20 ft, while a small portion of the Haste Street exterior wall will be 15 ft.

The initial plan was to take both exterior walls to a designated height of 29.5 ft, after which they would be braced and to enable access to the building and adjacent streets. The west and north walls, as well as the interior of the building, are all set to be completely demolished, as per the first permit.

“There is lots of weakness in the brick building which is not possible to predict,” said Berkeley City spokesperson Mary Kay Clunies-Ross. “There has to be some flexibility given the safety issues.”

The fire, which began in the elevator machine room in the building’s basement according to an investigation by the Berkeley Fire Department, caused the loss of 39 apartments and at least two businesses: Café Intermezzo and Raleigh’s Bar & Grill. The long-term plans for the building and the site are as yet unknown.

Related:
A Berkeley building is turned into a heap of rubble, debris [12.01.11]
Sequoia fire accidental, started in elevator machinery [11.30.11]
Berkeley’s 95-year-old Sequoia Building is brought down [11.29.11]
Sequoia: Demolition imminent as tenants meet to complain [11.28.11]
The Sequoia Building: At heart of Berkeley’s rich heritage [11.23.11]
Friday’s fire “another hit in the face” for Telegraph Avenue [11.21.11]
“Largest fire since 1991″ leaves many locals homeless [11.19.11]
Devastating fire in apartment building, Haste at Telegraph [11.19.11]

15 Comments

Print Friendly
Tagged , ,
  • Anonymous

    I wish berekleyside could report some of the thinking behind trying to save the lower floors. I imagine berkeleyside reports have tried to glean that information.

    Is there some hope that keeping the ground level of the building standing that there would be less of a retail hole on Telegraph?  I guess I could understand that reasoning.Telegraph is always weakened at that stretch, to lose more retail would be tragic.

    Surely sooner or later an entirely new buildilng wouldhave to go up. I can see why the city wouldn’t want another hole for 26+ years like the other empty lot on Telegraph along there. But it seems very tricky to save the ground floor.

    Also, I have read some gripes from historical conservationists about Berkeley’s history being torn down. It is my understand that the Sequoia was not build with any concern for earthquakes, that it is not a buildilng conducive to being preserved in light of our earthquake fault reality. We can’t keep everything just cause it exists.  Is it really a great loss to a city architectural heritage to lose a not-all-that-special,aging building that was not build to withstand earthquakes? I don’t think so.

    If keeping the first floor as a stop-gap measure is being tried to maintain some retail benefit along Telegraph, I support that. It’s a shame the fire happened but it is my understanding the buildilng was very unlikely to survive a major quake. This might be a blessing.

  • Charles_Siegel

    Do they have a new estimate of when the street will be reopened?  When I saw demolition had stopped, I began worrying that they might not reopen the street in time for the Dec 16 beginning of the Christmas Crafts fair. 

  • Charles_Siegel

    I asked this question earlier, and Ira Serkes replied that they often demolish garages only partially, because that makes it easier to get a permit to rebuild, and that the same might be true here. 

  • Tracybella

    Anyone know what will become of Intermezzo? I hope they are able to find a new space and bounce back quickly.

  • Jmvorn

    The remaining wall will serve as a fence.

  • http://berkeleyside.com Tracey Taylor

    Charles: The original estimate was that the demolition would be complete on December 5th but they have lost at least a day with the permit violation.

  • Charles_Siegel

    Tracey, thanks for the information.  I doubt that they can complete this by Dec 6.  They still have lots of rubble to haul away.  When they are done getting rid of the rubble, they will have to shore the building up and presumably have it inspected by the city and certified as safe before the street is reopened. 

  • http://radar.oreilly.com/2007/09/local-recycle-reuse-hits-a-bur.html The Sharkey

     How sad that they have to resort to this kind of finagling to get this building torn down and replaced.
    The Planning Dept. should be falling all over themselves to expedite this demolition and approve variances to get a replacement built as quickly as possible.

  • Arnold

    My girlfriend lived on the 4th floor and was in the apt when the fire broke out. She was lucky to have about 3 days worth of laundry in my apartment, but everything she owned including laptop, tv, diamond jewelries, and most importantly all the gifts I gave her were burnt.  Does anyone have any legal advice on how such cases are handled? The owner is clearly responsible if the fire started in the elevator room, but is there any kind of compensation plan in place?

  • http://berkeleyside.com Tracey Taylor

    A group of former tenants is organizing to ensure their legal rights are met. They held a meeting last week with participation from Berkeley’s rent board and a lawyer. The group has a Facebook page called Residents of 2441 Haste which would be a good place to make contact. It’s at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/180040688752477/

  • http://radar.oreilly.com/2007/09/local-recycle-reuse-hits-a-bur.html The Sharkey

    Your girlfriend probably should have gotten renter’s insurance. It’s not very expensive.

    http://www.rentersinsurance.net/

  • Jess

    The owners were only supposed to do a “make safe” demolition of the 3rd and 4th floors so that the building was safe enough for firefighters to enter to do an investigation of the cause of the fire.

  • Anonymous

    Hi Charles – that’s what I think is the case, but don’t know for sure.

  • Chamelean75

    Why don’t they just knock the whole thing down?  Not to harp on the people who cry foul about destruction of historic property but that building looks very unstable.  An earthquake could bring down that building in a flash.  I’d feel more comfortable if they tore the entire thing down and reinforced everything from the ground up.

  • Berkeley Resident

    Where is Bruce Love?!  I miss him on all these discussions!!