Multiple people raised concerns about the structural integrity of the Family Dollar store on Broadway Boulevard in Kansas City before it partially collapsed Sunday. The collapse killed a 68-year-old man and critically injured a 50-year-old woman.
Two days before the collapse, a city building inspector was dispatched to the property at 3726 Broadway.
"The resident is reporting that the building Family Dollar, is slowing (sic) tilting," she wrote. She took no action but confirmed what the neighbor saw. "Please describe the property issues at this location: building tilting," according to the report.
About the same time, a worker at the Broadway Area Community Improvement District said the same thing to her boss.
"We did have a staff member notice a structural issue," CID Executive Director Kevin Klinkenberg told KCUR.
That concern was not communicated to the city, he said, but the CID has had ongoing issues with the store and made numerous 311 calls about trash and parking lot upkeep.
"We've had concerns about the outside of the property," he said.
Crews began to clean up around the store on Tuesday. The building was fenced off from the street and the parking lot. The city has declared it a dangerous property.
"The roof is weakened to such an extent that it could compromise the load bearing capability of the entire roof support system," a city inspector wrote.
The inspector said the entire building is in danger.
"The additional pressure from rain, wind and snow is likely to cause the remaining parts of the roof to partially or completely collapse," they wrote.
Investigators took photographs inside the store that show a hole in the ceiling and debris on the floor. They also took pictures of the exposed roof supports.
"There's always a review after an incident like this one," Mayor Quinton Lucas said.
That will include investigators from Dangerous Buildings and the fire department.
"The city will review what has come in before, what we have heard and any compliance or noncompliance from outside actors and certainly any public steps that could have been taken along the way," he said.
Lucas said he expects an update at City Council's Thursday meeting.
City Councilman Eric Bunch, who lives nearby and whose district, the Fourth, includes the Family Dollar, is eager for an update.
"There are policy decisions that I think we have to make in order to do a much better job of protecting our public," he said. "Right now, that's kind of where the focus is internally here at City Hall."
The Kansas City Police Department said its death investigation is still open.
