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Building collapses in Readville

The Boston Fire Department reports a building in the Boston-Dedham Commerce Park on Sprague Street collapsed this morning, blowing out the building's walls, taking down power lines and forcing the evacuation of other buildings when workers and emergency crews began smelling natural gas.

One building in the complex, 63 Sprague St., was ordered evacuated when firefighters got a look at the snow on its roof.

The department reports no injuries.

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Comments

https://goo.gl/maps/dywLq

edited...should work

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Doesn't work for me, even if I cut and paste the whole thing.

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It's kind of slow - first it calls up Google Maps, then the map for that location, then the image.

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But this just looked like a blank wall/fence on Street View. ;-}

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sidewalk many times as it is on part of my normal running route.

Luckily, not this morning.

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Is that the building that the Dancing Deer Bakery is in? The address sounds familiar.

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Will this area still smell like delicious croutons?!

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No, silly, it smells like onion bagels!

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in the complex (at 65 Sprague Street); I believe the building that collapsed is 63.

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It's time to leave the 20th Century's mistakes behind. Among them the notion that slanted roofs are bourgueois and unnecessary.

Put slanted roofs back in the building codes.

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Because building a pitched min 3:12 roof on a large commercial/office/industrial building would be a good idea.

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I don't even know where the thought comes from that slanted roofs are bourgeois and unnecessary. Can you explain?

I know that they are more expensive and can help to make heating and cooling costs (maintenance) be higher than necessary. I also know that developers prefer the flat roofs because they cost less and can max out the rentable space as a result.

I hate pointing fingers, but I have a strong mistrust of pre-engineered buildings (even with masonry exterior walls). I also know that the structural codes have gotten much, much more stringent than in past years. The buildings in the photos above look to have made use of light and fast construction - and built prior to this code change. It's fine - just not for the amount of snow we've had. The rain and melting has only made it worse.

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'slanted roofs', i think you mean sloped? Yeah, they're in the IBC. And always have been. They were in the MA building code before that (which was the IBC with MA modifications).

I think you need to do a little more research.

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and if so, by whom?

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From the look of it, the part that collapsed is over the gymnastics school and the wall climbing facility. I think the bakery with the yeasty-stinky vents right over the sidewalk is to the left - you can see the vents coming out of the wall high up.

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If you walk the Google image back you'll see the Rock Spot and Broderick Gymnastics signs on what seems to be a different building. Not 100% sure, but that's the way it looks to me.

Not sure WHAT was in that next building. The trampoline place maybe?

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It wasn't the trampoline place or brodricks.
Brodricks just posted this to their site (my daughter was supposed to have class at 3 today)

Broderick Gymnastics as well as the entire industrial park on Sprague St. has been notified to stay away from the area until further notice. NStar is working on a pretty substantial gas leak caused by the collapse. I will keep you posted, however, we WILL NOT be opening our doors until I am given the green light from a structural engineer.

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The website of Sky Zone Boston mentions that they will be closed due to the collapse nearby, but it wasn't their building.

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WZBR 1410 AM transmits from a site across Sprague St. from the collapsed building. When the power went out, the radio station went off the air, but it's back on now.

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