1 man is dead and 2 workers are missing after a parking garage partially collapsed in Grays Ferry

Part of a seven-level parking garage under construction in Grays Ferry for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia collapsed Wednesday afternoon, leaving one man dead, two workers missing, and rescuers keeping their distance as the structure remained unstable.

As of Thursday morning, rescue crews were still on standby and police maintained a perimeter around the collapsed CHOP garage. Emergency workers continued to file into the staging area.

The collapse occurred around 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday at 30th Street and Grays Ferry Avenue, across the street from the Grays Ferry Shopping Center, police said.

A man rescued from the scene was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 3:03 p.m., police said.

At a Wednesday night news briefing, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Jeffrey W. Thompson said two other people rescued at the scene were treated and released.

As for the missing workers, “what is going on here tonight is a search and rescue operation,” Thompson said.

But he cautioned that the structure remained unstable, so the operation “is going to take time.”

“We have to very carefully and methodically deconstruct this building for the safety of the people working on it, and ultimately for the safety of the first responders who will continue to search,” Thompson said Wednesday night.

“We cannot give you a time frame on how long it’s going to take, because as we move through this process, we are constantly re evaluating this structure and making plans to make sure that we can conduct this operation as safely as possible,” he said.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker confirmed at the Wednesday briefing that “two individuals remain unaccounted for at this time.”

Parker said the garage was being assembled with precast concrete, and the roof segment in the stairwell tower “failed” and collapsed straight down through every level.

Parker said the construction project, which was being handled by HSC Builders and Construction Managers of Exton, properly obtained the eight permits it needed from the city and all inspections were up to date.

Gov. Josh Shapiro posted a statement on social media Wednesday night that he and his wife Lori “are praying for those injured in the parking garage that partially collapsed in Grays Ferry today, for the family of the individual who was tragically killed, and for the families who continue to wait while first responders search for their loved ones.”

Shapiro added: “My Administration is in touch with local officials on the ground in Philadelphia, and I’ve spoken with @PhillyMayor and leadership at CHOP and Ironworkers 401 to offer our full support as they continue rescue efforts at the scene and support the families impacted.”

The collapse location is the site of a planned 300,000-square-foot parking garage being built for CHOP, which proved controversial in the neighborhood.

In 2024, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported that CHOP paid almost $25 million for the 3.4-acre tract.

The parking garage was envisioned to allow CHOP workers to more easily drive to work, using the garage and then taking a shuttle to the hospital.

Some community members and environmentalists have expressed concerns about the scale of the project. The building would be by far the largest new free-standing garage built in recent Philadelphia history.

In a statement emailed Wednesday night, CHOP said it was “prioritizing the safety of the construction workers at this time and working closely with the City of Philadelphia and our construction partners. We will share additional information as it becomes available.”

THA Consulting, a planning and design firm based in Blue Bell and one of the engineers that worked on plans for the garage, declined to comment on the collapse.

Grady Fields, who lives near 30th and Wharton Streets, about two blocks from the construction site, said he heard a loud boom around 2:15 p.m.

“It shook our home,” Fields said. “I wasn’t sure what was going on.”

A short time later, Fields said, he went over to the site and noticed two large cracks in the building. As he was watching the scene, he added, he saw construction workers using a lift to get down from the top of the garage, as well as workers clearing vehicles and bystanders away from the area on 30th Street.

“They were clearly worried about something falling on them,” he said.

A man working at the shopping center across the street said he was indoors when he heard a boom — more a heavy thud than an explosion.

In recent weeks, he had watched the structure rise “extremely fast,” and in the moment, he thought a slab had sheared off the side, said the man, who asked not to be named because he did not have his employer’s permission to speak to reporters.

He stepped outside and saw a plume of dust billowing upward, at least four stories high.

“It was pandemonium,” he said.

Workers fled from the building as chunks of debris continued to fall. Firefighters rushed in with a stretcher, he said, and soon emerged carrying an immobilized man.

“They got to him pretty quick,” he said, “but he looked bad.”

When the collapse happened, Shawmar Pitts, 52, was at his mother’s home nearby on South 31st Street and heard a faint rumble, he said.

Minutes later, a colleague called with the explanation: A parking garage under construction had partially collapsed.

Pitts went to the scene and stood behind yellow police tape in the parking lot of a Fresh Grocer supermarket across the street, watching as emergency crews worked amid the debris.

He had arrived shortly after the collapse, as officers sealed off the block and traffic backed up along the street, and after rescuers had pulled a man from the rubble.

Pitts, a co-managing director of the advocacy group Philly Thrive, said he and others had protested the project for months. They were there in February, he said, as the foundation was being laid.

“This is devastating,” he said.

Staff writers Ximena Conde and Ryan W. Briggs contributed to this article.