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Crime & Safety

Roof Collapses at La Feast; Main Street Businesses Closed

No one was hurt, officials say. Royal Oak Police and Fire taped off the east side of Main Street north of Fourth Street.

2:40 p.m.: A crew from Belfor Property Restoration is on site to attempt to remove the HVAC unit that is threatening to fall in from La Feast's collapsed roof and tent the roof to prevent further damage from weather, City Manager Don Johnson said.

Jason Craig, the city's chief building official, also surveyed the damage and the buildings. He told Johnson that the La Feast building at 315 S. Main St. appears to have been constructed as an addition to 317 S. Main St., (Hermann's Bakery), not as an independent building.

"It does not have its own outside wall on that side, it shares a structural wall with Hermann's," Johnson said. "(Craig) couldn't tell if that is the case on the other side (Beyond Juice) as well. However, he is posting all three as dangerous buildings until a structural engineer is brought to evaluate the Hermann's and Beyond Juice buildings."

1:45 p.m.: Fire officials, the mayor, city manager, affected business owners and a city building official have checked out the damage – from street level views to high above in a fire truck bucket – caused when the roof of on Main Street collapsed this morning. The news was not good for next door neighbors Beyond Juice and .

"I cannot recommend they reopen today," said Jason Craig, the city's chief building official.

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Craig said it appeared that the businesses' walls that abut La Feast might be bearing weight of La Feast's walls, which should not be happening. But he won't know for sure what the impact is until the property owners have a structural analysis done. He was not sure how soon that would happen.

"That's up to the property owners," Craig said. "I'm going to say it needs a structural analysis before it can be occupied."

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That was not good news for Richard Hermann, who not only is losing foot traffic to his historic bakery but also has hundreds of goods inside his bakery waiting to sell to nearby restaurants and at the Farmers Market on Sunday.

"I've got 30 dozen hamburger buns for Pronto! and the Emory that they're going to want to come and get at some point," Hermann said. "I got all the product in there. Obviously, I'm not going to be able to sell it today because I can't have people come in there."

Nearby and were allowed to open.

11:50 a.m.: Mayor Jim Ellison has been up above La Feast to get a look at the damage from the roof collapse. "There's a big air conditioning unit sitting in the center of the roof right now. That's our concern," he said. "It looks like the roof gave way from the weight of the water ... it's compounded by the fact that we've got this big air conditioning unit just kind of hanging there precariously."

11:30 a.m.: Hermann's Bakery manager Pam Stodola recalls how she and Hermann's owner Richard Hermann discovered the problem at La Feast and called police: Stodola said she heard a big noise and thought maybe someone was doing some work on the building next door. She asked Hermann to look out the back to check. "We saw water coming out the back of their building, so I called the police and told them that," Stodola said. "... then we came out front and there was water coming out the front and I looked in the window and the whole roof is laying down in the restaurant and I'm like, 'Oh my god!'. And then we could start smelling gas."

11:15 a.m.: The roof of restaurant in downtown Royal Oak collapsed about 10:15 a.m. today, resulting in broken water and gas lines and the closure of   four other businesses in the vicinity of the restaurant.

No one was injured in the roof collapse, said Royal Oak police and firefighters on the scene. Workers at the restaurant discovered the damage when they arrived this morning.

Waiter Fuad Yahya was scheduled to open the restaurant this morning, and arrived about 10:15.

"I was running late and when I got here the Fire Department was in the back and asked me to call the owner or they were going to break in the back door," he explained.

Fire Department personnel broke open the door to find the roof had caved in. No one was inside the building and no one was hurt in the surrounding businesses.

Owner Mohamed Afify arrived around 11 a.m. but was not allowed inside.

"The roof is down," he said. "The dining room and the area to go to the bathroom – but I couldn't see anything else."

Hermann's Bakery manager Pam Stodola, who was in the bakery this morning, said she heard a "big whoosh" and asked the bakery owner to go check it out. Richard Hermann opened his doors to find water pouring out the back and front doors of La Feast. Looking through the windows they could see the roof had collapsed. Yahya arrived shortly after to find the roof collapsed.

Four other businesses – Beyond Juice,   and have been closed for precautionary reasons, although there doesn't appear to be damage to any of them.

Mayor Jim Ellison, who was taken above the roof for a look down on the damage, said it appeared that water had collected on the roof, and may have played a part in the collapse. He also said an air-conditioning unit was hanging precariously into the restaurant, and that fire officials needed to figure out how to remove it.

It did not appear, he said, that there was damage to the other buildings, but that the building inspector was on his way to the scene to assess that and determine whether the other businesses could reopen.

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