A multi-level parking structure located next to Trader Joe’s at Bayshore Mall in Glendale partially collapsed just after noon Thursday. WISN12's Caroline Reinwald reported that at least two vehicles were buried under the debris.
On scene of a partial parking garage collapse at Bayshore Mall. Hearing reports of at least two cars buried but no one inside. @WISN12News pic.twitter.com/qx4J5fanej
— Caroline Reinwald (@WISN_Caroline) February 23, 2023
WISN12 Executive Producer Tanner Kahler shared the following image captured by the station’s helicopter:
First look at Bayshore Mall parking garage collapse from @WISN12News News Chopper 12 pic.twitter.com/9okkxdC7fP
— Tanner Kahler (@tannerkahler) February 23, 2023
The photo shows damage affecting all three levels of the structure, with snow that witnesses indicated was piled on the third level now visible at ground level.
North Shore Fire Department Chief Robert Whitaker confirmed with reporters on the scene that two vehicles sustained damage, but both were unoccupied: "Bayshore has a large video presence throughout the property. We were able to view that video, and we feel based on that video and talking to the owners of the two cars that are in the snow pile behind us, there's no one in that space."
Reports indicated the collapse involved the only entrance and exit, and that Whitaker said people with vehicles parked in the structure may not be able to retrieve them for a matter of weeks, if not months.
Update (3/2/2023): Crews were able to construct a temporary ramp at the site, allowing for the removal of cars one week after the parking structure's partial collapse.
According to reporting from the Journal Sentinel, Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy said the city's building inspector had visited Bayshore recently in conjunction with the mall's plans to expand. It was unclear whether those inspections included any official examination of the parking structure near Trader Joe's.
In the same report, two employees from a software company that operates out of Bayshore said they “heard a series of consecutive booms as the top floor crashed into the garage.” They added that the collapse occurred in an area where crews piled snow cleared from other parts of the garage.
According to the National Weather Service, communities in the northern part of Milwaukee County received between four and seven inches of dense, heavy snow since Tuesday. Firefighters responding to the incident could be seen trying to clear several feet of snow from the ground floor of the structure and gain access to the area underneath.