Construction mishap causes chunk of pavement to collapse in Ventura
Andie Lopez Bornet
VENTURA, Calif. — A construction mishap caused a large chunk of pavement to collapse in Ventura, leaving residents shocked by what they saw and heard.
Doug Danavick, feed manager at The Wharf, was across the street when it happened
“Well, unfortunately, we hear loud noises here a lot,” Danavick said. “But at first it was more about watching the people and how they were reacting, which you could see was alarming to them.”
Soon after, people began posting about the collapse on social media, referring to it as a sinkhole.
“Yeah, I didn’t see anything, but I was at home catching up on emails and all of a sudden I hear a big boom and a lot of screaming, commotion,” said Ventura resident Michael Hanrahan. “And I’m like, ‘What’s that?’ Then I saw my phone — sinkhole. That’s what that noise was.”
But the City of Ventura is not calling it that. City officials say the ground collapsed due to a temporary shoring failure at a construction site on Front Street near Kalorama.
Crews have been working on a luxury apartment building for Aldersgate Investment. The company said it could not provide a comment when contacted by NewsChannel.
Another real estate company, Commune Capital, is also involved in the project. In an Instagram post, Commune Capital Co-President Mikey Taylor acknowledged the incident, saying the company is working with the City of Ventura to determine what happened.
“I don’t know who is responsible, but I’m sure someone is getting fired, so that’s one thing,” Hanrahan added.
Johnny Flores, who lives behind the site, said he spoke with a city employee who explained the issue was not technically a sinkhole.
“He said that technically it wasn’t a sinkhole — that these beams here that were supposed to hold up this dirt gave way. It was just too heavy for it,” Flores said. “And I noticed that the same type of beams are only like five feet away from the back of my house.”
The City of Ventura has red-tagged a nearby residential structure and part of a commercial property as a precaution. Officials say they are now working with construction engineers to assess the damage and determine how to prevent similar incidents in the future.
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