Parking lot at Penn Hills apartment complex collapses, residents displaced, no injuries reported

Penn Hills officials are investigating the cause of a parking lot collapse Tuesday at an apartment complex off of Frankstown Road.

About 20 cars were damaged in the mishap but no injuries were immediately reported. The incident was reported at about 6:20 p.m..

Penn Hills Police Chief Ron Como said they removed a squatter from the property Monday, and feared someone may have been living on the lower level again.

Teams from the Pennsylvania Urban Search & Rescue found no one when the examined the sunken parking lot to make sure no one was in the area below.

The Red Cross erected a temporary shelter for about 35 displaced apartment residents. The adjacent apartment building was being examined to determine whether it remains structurally sound.

Como said the parking lot collapsed into a storage area that once served as the parking lot’s lower level. The parking lot split its entire length, dropping the concrete 15 to 20 feet. The lot is about 50 yards long and 25 yards wide.

The cars that dropped with it remained on their wheels.

A woman who was in the process of parking her car when the lot collapsed was rescued, Como said.

Resident Chuck Frazier was home in one of the apartments at the time.

“I heard this big thump and that was it,” he said. Frazier attempted to remove his car, which was partially hanging over the lot.

Emergency personnel told him and others that vehicles would not be removed until code enforcement and engineers deemed it safe to do so.

Resident Abiola Odeyemi lives on the third floor of the apartment building.

“I was taking a nap after work and suddenly I heard a bang on my door,” Odeyemi said. “It was a cop and the firefighters asking everyone to evacuate the building. I came out and ran downstairs to see what was going on and realized the whole parking lot had caved in. I went back into my apartment, grabbed my laptop and went out the back exit.

”I was in shock seeing my two cars caved in, and you couldn’t get anything out.”

Monroeville and Munhall firefighters, as well as Salvation Army Emergency Services, North Strabane Fire Rescue, Etna Volunteer Fire Department Special Services, Penn Hills EMS and Murrysville Medic One responded to the scene.

Frankstown Road from Duff Road to Rodi Road, from the McDonald’s restaurant to Papa John’s, was closed Tuesday night.

The parking lot and adjacent apartments are behind the Penn Hills Shopping Center. A handful of stores near the collapse closed; the section of the shopping center from Tasty N Healthy to Frank & John’s Cleaners, was cordoned off.

Como said shutting down the businesses was done out of precaution. It is unclear when stores would reopen.