The Davenport’s former owner included in tenant’s lawsuit

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - A man who survived the “terrifying collapse” of 324 Main St. sued owner Andrew Wold, contractors as well as the former owner.

The lawsuit filed by Broc Nelson accuses former owner Waukee Investments LLC of placing profits before the tenants’ safety by selling the building rather than making structural repairs.

Included in the lawsuit are Andrew Wold, Davenport Hotel LLC, Andrew Wold Investments LLC, Village Property Management LLC, Select Structural Engineering LLC, Bi-State Masonry Inc., the City of Davenport, Waukee Investments LLC, and Parkwild Properties LC.

The defendants should have foreseen that dangers. Nelson told KWQC-TV that said he escaped with the clothes on his back when the building crumbled.

He and other surviving tenants lost their homes and all possessions buried in the rubble after the city removed everything to the landfill on Wednesday.

Kylie K. Franklin of Davenport is representing Nelson.

Wold and his companies Davenport Hotel and Andrew Wold Investments and the building management Village Property are accused in the lawsuit of not maintaining the building and ignoring structural issues.

The firm it hired by Wold to inspect the building, Select Structural Engineering, failed its duty, the lawsuit claims, to “hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.” It should have known that repairs not properly done could result in injury and/or death.

Bi-State Masonry is accused of not properly and safely repairing the west wall of the apartment building, and also of not following advice of a structural engineer.

The lawsuit alleges the city and its chief building inspector Trishna Pradhan failed in its multiple attempts to effectively address the problems of the west wall and its possible collapse.

Former owner Waukee Investments, which sold the building to Andrew Wold Investments in late 2020, is accused of ignoring warnings and orders from the city about structural disrepair.

The lawsuit says Waukee Investments values “profits over the safety of tenants.”

Its property management, Parkwild Properties, accused of not maintaining the building and should have known failure to do so would increase the risk to tenants.