(Brooklyn – WABC,
April 25, 2007) – The parapet of a vacant building under demolition as
part of the Atlantic Yards project collapsed onto the street in the
Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn Thursday
morning.

Officials say the
parapet on the former Ward Bread Bakery Complex came crashing onto the
sidewalk and Pacific Street just after 9:45 a.m.

The parapet is the
barrier at the edge of a structure employed to prevent persons or
vehicles from falling over the edge.

No workers were
reported injured, and there were no pedestrians struck, officials
said.

Emergency services
personnel are now in the process of evacuating nearly 100 apartments
after a parapet fell.

Officials are
worried about the stability of the building and the possibility of
additional collapse, so they are evacuating the building next door at
800 Pacific Street. There are unconfirmed reports that perhaps 350
people could be displaced.

Pieces of the
parapet littered the sidewalk and crashed onto some
cars.

The five-story
building is slated to be demolished as part of the Atlantic Yards
project. Protestors rallied in front of the building on the first day
of demolition last month. The protesters said the historic building,
built in 1911 and covered in white terra cotta tiles, is example of a
"scorched earth" policy that will blight the corridor along
the Long Island Rail Road yards in Prospect
Heights.

The work at the
bakery at 800 Pacific Street will include two months of abatement,
including the removal of asbestos, Forest City Ratner Companies said
in a statement. When the building is gone in two months, 75 percent of
the materials will be recycled, the company said.

Ratner’s Atlantic
Yards project proposes a sweeping, 24-acre development with a
19,000-seat basketball arena for his New Jersey Nets, residential
buildings and four soaring office towers.

The Frank
Gehry-designed project would be built over Long Island Rail Road
storage yards and is dependent upon the state condemning more than two
square blocks of private property and knocking down up to 70
buildings.