Kentucky City Tearing Down Garage Where Concrete Panel Fell

A 30-year-old Lexington parking garage where a concrete panel fell from an upper deck to the sidewalk last spring is being torn down.

Mayor Jim Gray says the city will demolish the upper deck of the Phoenix Parking Garage and have a surface parking lot at the site. Gray says four engineering firms have looked at the garage, and all agree leaving it open would be dangerous.

Demolition is expected to begin in December and cost $150,000 to $280,000.

The garage was temporarily closed May 8 after a 7-ton, 28-foot-long concrete panel fell. No one was injured, and the garage reopened May 11 after an engineer found the problem isolated to one steel beam.

New engineering reports last month indicated further evaluation was needed. The garage has remained closed since then.