HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Mulberry Street wall collapse happened over one-year-ago. Now, after months of delays, the owners of McFarland Apartments admits to owning the wall. This new information comes from a court status update filed in Dauphin County on Friday.
In the status report, McFarland LP lawyer, Adam Kline, states a survey and title search reached the conclusion that McFarland Apartments owned the wall that collapsed on May 5, 2016 onto Howard’s Tire & Auto on Cameron Street.
In the report, Kline states a deal has been reached between the McFarland Apartment owners, the City of Harrisburg and Howard Henry, owner of Howard’s Tire & Auto. The deal will ensure a security fence be built around the border of the tire shop and Mr. Henry be reimbursed by the city and the owners of the apartment building, which is located above the auto shop property.
In May 2016, a retaining wall and part of a parking lot collapsed on top of the tire shop and a car. The wall collapsed again in June, after nothing had been done to stabilize it after the first collapse.
For months, the apartment owners denied they owned the wall, first blaming PennDot for work it did on the Mulberry Street Bridge in 2015. Then, a Senior Dauphin County Judge ordered a survey and title search to determine who owned the wall, once and for all. The results of those concluded the apartment building owners were responsible for the wall.
The apartment building and part of the tire shop were condemned last year, causing the owner of Howard’s Tire to shut down his business at that location completely.
