Albany building felled by age, frost, construction, inspector says

ALBANY An aging foundation, heaving frozen ground and neighboring construction all likely combined to undermine a Sheridan Avenue building razed Friday as it threatened to collapse, a city official said Monday.

"There was the frost, the age of the foundation that had some kind of deterioration to it, and you have to add the factor of the exposure that it had from the new construction," Chief Building Inspector Carlo Figliomeni said.

That determination was made after the two-story building at 211 Sheridan Ave. was visually inspected by city codes officials and outside engineer Russ Reeves, who the city often calls in to assess buildings it fears are near collapse.

That was the case Friday when the east wall of 211 Sheridan began to bow toward the excavation site of multi-unit apartment building soon to rise as part of Capital District Habitat for Humanity's rebuilding of much of the Sheridan Hollow neighborhood.

The building on the northwest corner of Dove Street and Sheridan Avenue is being built by Syracuse-based nonprofit Housing Visions and will eventually house Habitat's regional headquarters, as well as those of the Albany County Land Bank.

The stress of the construction, "definitely added to it," Figliomeni said, "but it wasn't the primary cause. The building was old and these things happen."

Figliomeni said it appeared as though masonry block had been added to support the existing brick-and-mortar foundation.

Engineers were unable to more closely examine the failing wall because the foundation appeared to be shifting so quickly that it was not safe to do so, Figliomeni said.

"The frost heaved and shifted, and once that foundation starts going, it's going to deteriorate," he said.

Two people were left homeless by the demolition. They are currently being put up in a hotel.

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Albany building felled by age, frost, construction, inspector says