A building collapse in New Orleans shocks Lilly’s Café and the community

NEW ORLEANS – Lilly’s Cafe was full for dinner Monday night when the building across the street began to collapse.

“We heard boom, boom, boom, then everyone ran out,” said Lilly’s Cafe owner Trinh Vong.

On Tuesday morning, Lilly’s Cafe owner Trinh Vong says her car is still buried in the bricks of the old guitar shop.

“Today I’m a little shaken. I call my insurance company and they say they’ve never heard of anything like this,” Vong said.

Surrounding restaurants and businesses were evacuated Monday evening after a building collapsed at the corner of Magazine and Felicity.

What caused the building to collapse is still under investigation, but it is just the latest in a series of construction emergencies.

Back in September, a dilapidated building collapsed at Oretha Castle Haley. In October, the building next to the guitar shop went up in flames. Then, two weeks ago, a partial building collapsed in the business district, blocking pedestrian access on O’Keefe Avenue for days.

Now City Council President Helena Moreno and State Senator Royce Duplessis say they are trying to find a way to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.

“What I’m interested in is what we can do in the future to prevent situations like this,” said City Council President Helena Moreno. “And whether we need to take a look at some of our older buildings and do a structural analysis. Find out the condition of our buildings,” Moreno said.

The city released a statement confirming this “We are working to work with the New Orleans City Council to develop legislation regarding regular inspections of vacant historic buildings and businesses.”

The owner of the building told WWL Louisiana that he purchased the building just a few months ago and has plans to renovate it. Instead of hiring renovation crews, he now hires demolition crews.

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