WATERLOO - About 50 people are out of work in Waterloo after structural problems in the roof of 56 King St. N. forced four local businesses to close Saturday.

Landlord Lee Brubacher said the problem was identified Friday when a repair man arrived to fix some cracked drywall in the ceiling at Night School.

The problem was much more serious than it appeared.

"The ceiling was hanging down 12 inches or so and the south wall was pushed out severely," Brubacher said.

A main roof truss had been weakened by a crack, he said.

Brubacher met with tenants Loop Clothing, McMullan's on King, Night School and The Thief and The Idiot Saturday and the decision to close for safety reasons was made.

"Safety is the big reason we can't be there," said Loop owner Alnoor Keshvani. "We're just being proactive."

The tenants are awaiting the results of an engineer's report on the building's fate.

Brubacher said at this time it's believed the damage was caused by a massive storm that swept through the region in July.

Keshvani said if the closure is longer than two months, he will relocate to 13 King St. N.

McMullan's owner Chuck McMullan is trying to find temporary work for his employees as they wait for answers on whether the 100-year-old building can be repaired.

"(Insurance) doesn't look after the staff and that's my No. 1 priority," he said.

He hopes media attention might assist 56 King employees with finding other temporary work.

Some of McMullan's staff have been relocated to another establishment he owns in Kitchener.

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Night School owner Devon McKenzie said he's only been in the building about eight months, but had already built up a thriving business.

"It's an unfortunate sequence of events," he said. "We've just been focused on helping our staff in any way that we can."