Three residents of an Iowa apartment building that partially collapsed on Sunday are still unaccounted for, police said Thursday. Earlier this week, authorities said five people were missing, but Davenport Police Chief Jeff Bladel said two have since been accounted for and are safe, per the AP. One moved out of the building a month ago and was found in Texas, and the other was found locally. The six-story building partially collapsed shortly before 5pm Sunday. Rescue crews pulled seven people from the building in their initial response, and escorted out 12 others who could walk on their own. Later, two more people were rescued, including one woman who was removed from a fourth-floor unit hours after authorities said they were going to begin setting up for demolition.
The city has since released documents, including structural engineering reports, that show the building's owner was warned that the parts of the building were unstable. An engineer’s report dated May 24, just days before the collapse, suggested patches in the west side of the building’s brick façade “appear ready to fall imminently” and could be a safety hazard to cars or passersby. The engineer’s report also detailed that window openings, some filled and some unfilled, were insecure. In one case, the openings were “bulging outward” and looked “poised to fall.” Inside the first floor, unsupported window openings help “explain why the façade is currently about to topple outward.”
“The brick façade is unlikely to be preserved in place, but it can be brought down in a safe, controlled manner,” the report stated. Andrew Wold, the building's owner, released a statement dated Tuesday saying that “our thoughts and prayers are with our tenants” and that his company, Davenport Hotel, LLC, is working with agencies to help them. County records show Davenport Hotel LLC acquired the building in 2021 in a deal worth $4.2 million. Residents in recent months have made numerous complaints about the building, and documents show that others also notified the city of potential problems.
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