A problem with construction on Block 5, a high-rise development in downtown Rapid City, forced an evacuation of the area after structural concerns were found in an elevator shaft.
The multi-ton structure was found to be physically sinking into the earth.
Crews worked for much of Thursday night and into Friday morning and downtown Rapid City was cut in half with closed roads as construction crews quickly worked to safely bring down the structure.
The building has been under construction for about a year, led by Lloyd Companies.
The northern elevator shaft, which was more than 10 stories high, was sinking to the south toward Kansas City Street, according to Lloyd chief operating officer Jake Quasney.
"What happened, at a point between the foundation and the structure we had a shim that just failed at its most vulnerable point in the process," Quasney said. "Unfortunately, timing-wise that’s just the way it worked out and it did shift, physically, on the foundation so we had to get it all secured here and make sure everybody was safe and start the process of bringing it down.”
As a result of the potential collapse, two blocks of St. Joseph Street were evacuated and closed, impacting several downtown businesses and residencies. Those roads have since been reopened.
"We’ll be moving these cranes around, if you see a lane of traffic might get taken up as we move some stuff around, but just normal construction stuff at this point," Quasney said. "We don’t anticipate any major closures.”
Quasney said the incident is an undeniable setback on the project though.
“We’re going to continue working on other parts of the site where we’ll keep things moving. That’ll allow us to keep the process going,' Quasney said. "Really, it might be a few weeks, but fortunately we were operating ahead of schedule.”
No injuries were reported on the scene.