Officials say Davenport building wasn’t kept in ‘sound’ condition

DAVENPORT — Davenport city officials filed a civil enforcement action against the owner of a six-story downtown apartment building that crumbled Sunday evening, saying he had failed to maintain the property “in a safe, sanitary, and structurally sound condition” before the structure failed.

The collapse may have claimed two tenants who were caught inside, officials said, and forced another tenant’s leg to be amputated in order to rescue her from the debris.

The city’s enforcement action seeks a $300 fine.

City inspectors reviewed ongoing repairs being made to The Davenport, a mixed-use building that includes apartments and commercial spaces, three days before the Sunday evening collapse, records show. Plans called for replacing 100 feet of brick to comply with city code starting May 25, and an interior cinder block wall with rebar and grout was partially installed as of last week, according to online inspection and permitting notes.

“Wall bracing will be installed per engineer’s design,” the notes said. “Engineer will stop over periodically to ensure work is being done per his design. City inspector will stop over periodically to see progress.”

An email sent to an attorney believed to be representing the owner was not returned.

The building, once known as the Davenport Hotel, was built in 1907. According to county records, Davenport Hotel L.L.C., owned by Andrew Wold, acquired the building in 2021 in a property deal worth $4.2 million.

The city declared the building a nuisance in May 2022 “due to numerous solid waste violations” involving its overflowing trash bin, court records show.

Wold did not contest the nuisance declaration and inspectors noted similar problems 19 times between then and March, records show. The city took civil enforcement action, and a judge ordered Wold to pay a $4,500 penalty after he did not appear in court.

Protesters urging Davenport officials to conduct another sweep of the building before razing it took to the streets again Wednesday outside the building. After declaring on Sunday night after the collapse there was no evidence that people remained inside, officials had to backtrack after one person was rescued Monday night after she had been hiding in a bathtub.

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By Tuesday morning, officials acknowledged that two people may have been caught in the rubble — but it was too dangerous to search for them as the building was so unstable it could collapse even more at any time.

Three other missing residents are not believed to have been in the building when it started collapsing Sunday evening, said state Rep. Monica Kurth.

Fire Marshal James Morris said explosives will not be used to raze the building, which is near other structures and is “unstable and continues to worsen." Removing the debris that is propping up the rest of the building could cause further collapse, he said.

“We’re very sympathetic to the possibility that there’s two people” still left inside, Morris said Tuesday.

He said there will be an investigation into what caused the collapse but that it's unclear so far whether a criminal investigation is warranted.

The building was designed so the exterior brick and steel frame support each other, so the loss of exterior brick can threaten the building's integrity, said structural engineer Larry Sandhaas.

“When you lose the brick, you lose the stability of the building,” Sandhaas said.

Building workers had been completing interior and exterior repairs in recent months, city records show. Reports of falling bricks were part of that work, said Rich Oswald, the city’s director of development and neighborhood services.

A structural engineer hired by the owner determined that the building was safe enough to remain occupied during the repairs, according to the fire marshal.