Henry Molski

hmolski@enquirer.com

Two cars sustained heavy damage%2C but no injuries were reported in vacant building collapse

Hamilton County records show that the building at 126 W. Court St. was nearly 150 years old

City and fire officials are still investigating the exact cause of Saturday%27s partial building collapse

A large portion of a four-story building on West Court Street came crumbling to the ground Downtown late Saturday night.

Officials arrived and determined that the building was vacant and there were no reported injuries, according to a spokesperson from the City of Cincinnati. Two cars parked in front of the building received substantial damage.

On Monday, Court Street remains closed between Race and Elm streets. Elm Street, which runs north, is open.

Hanno Ahonen, visiting from Chicago, was right across the street between Race and Elm streets when he said he heard crackling and snapping – then the building came down.

"I've never seen anything like this in my life," Ahonen said. "There was a guy in that car out front."

Ahonen was still covered in the dust that was kicked up after the building came down. Ahonen said he saw the man in the car in front exit safely.

Cincinnati Fire officials first received a call reporting a building collapse at 9:34 p.m. Saturday.

Matthew Mansfield, who lived on the second floor of the adjoining apartment building, said he was still in shock.

"I thought a plane had hit the building," Mansfield said. "My whole building was swaying. It was like a tornado and an earthquake together."

Mansfield said that the wind was so strong from the collapse that all of his windows were shaking. He couldn't tell what had happened but he questioned that prohibition-era tunnels under his building may have contributed to the collapse.

"I used to work in heavy construction," Mansfield said. "I think for something like this to happen that the tunnels played a part. I've seen them. I've been down in them before."

Building inspectors remained on the scene Sunday morning to assess surrounding buildings, which were deemed safe, according to City of Cincinnati officials. The cause of the sudden collapse is still unknown.

Fire officials estimated $400,000 in damage to the building at 126 W. Court St.

Howard Sharon, who owns property at 927 Race St., said the collapsed building was the former site of Julius Rigacci Box Co., LLC, which went out of business about a year ago.

The structure at 126 W. Court St. was built in 1865 and is currently owned by the Historic Limited Liability Company, according to Hamilton County Auditor records. The Historic Limited Liability Company acquired the building for $386,000 on June 24, 2014, and is currently valued at $165,250, records state.