A water main break has caused the partial collapse of a Central Avenue building and the ground underneath in downtown St. Petersburg.
The hole opened up underneath the Underground building at 670 Central Avenue and the building partially collapsed, leaving a gaping hole in the wall along 7th Street. The hole in the building is about 50 feet wide while the ground collapse is about 20 feet deep. There were no injuries reported.
The water leak happened near the corner of 7th Street and Central Avenue Wednesday night. The water department arrived late Wednesday to get the leak under control.
The leaking water started to wash away part of the ground, but then just after 8:30 a.m. Thursday, the ground caved in, leaving behind a big, gaping hole.
Structural engineers spent part of Thursday trying to determine the best way to stabilize the building. Crews removed debris from the hole around the ruptured water main. They fixed the water leak, then filled in the large hole.
Initially they thought they were going to have to demolish the building that was damaged, but now they plan to try to stabilize it and save it.
The portion of the building that collapsed houses the Underground Church collapsed. Church officials say it's a setback.
"It makes us homeless, so that's okay, because we work with a lot of the homeless so we kind of enter into that kind of journey and that frustration and that kind of trial, but for now, those ministries have to go back to square one," said Jeremy Stephens, who is with the church.
The church building is connected to a record store next door. The plan is to try to stabilize the damaged building so that engineers can get close enough to figure out whether it can be salvaged.
"They have some screw jacks that have been put in place, holding up the overhang and the interior," Lawrence said. "They're going to build some support beams on the inside of the structure, trying to stabilize the roof and the partition wall for the record store."
The scene is drawing a steady stream of onlookers, eager to take pictures and see what all the commotion is about.
"It was a choice between a nap and coming to see this, and this was just a little more exciting," Faith Johnson said.
Officials say the building is about 90 years old and is part of the city's history, so they don't want to tear it down unless they absolutely have to. They plan to make that determination on Friday.
Central Avenue is currently closed between 6th and 8th streets and will remain closed until Friday.
The water and power was cut off to some of the neighboring businesses earlier, but those services have since been restored to all of the businesses, except the record store next to the damaged building.
The cause of the water main break is not yet known at this time.