Engineer explains how KC could have prevented deadly Family Dollar collapse
The failure to properly reinforce the entrance area of the Family Dollar store in Midtown after a 2016 car crash destroyed a key support column likely led to last week’s deadly collapse, a structural engineer told The Star.
That column, at the building’s northeast corner, was not replaced after the crash.
“It looks like that column was used as a support for the outside corner of that building, and once that was removed, unless somebody went back and reinforced that outside beam or wall element, which I didn’t see it in the photographs, it didn’t have the required structural support,” said Rick Slider, a South Florida structural engineer and forensic consultant on cases of building construction and deficiencies.
“So the failure is because that column was removed, and it doesn’t appear that there was a remedial effort to reinforce or stiffen up that outside beam or wall.”
The front facade of the store at 3736 Broadway Blvd. collapsed on July 27, killing 68-year-old Larry Parks and injuring three others. Numerous people said they’d been concerned about the building for a long time, and some shared photos they’d taken in recent days showing that the top northeast corner was sagging and separating from the rest of the structure.
The city received a complaint two days before the collapse that said the roof was tilting. On July 28, one day after the collapse, city staff inspected the building and deemed it dangerous and in violation of the city’s dangerous building ordinance.
Slider said the city probably would have sent someone to the property the following Monday to follow up on the complaint.
“And my guess is, had they shown up on Monday and they saw that there, they would have said, ‘Look, this is a problem. We think it’s a problem. You need to get a structural engineer out here, like right away. If you don’t, I am going to shut it down, and then I’ll wait for the engineer. But you’ve got to do something about it.’ That’s usually how it would happen.”
But on Monday, it was too late. And instead of investigating a tilting roof complaint, inspectors were dealing with the aftermath of a collapse.
The 2016 crash
The Oct. 10, 2016, crash occurred when a driver heading south on Broadway Boulevard lost control near 37th Street and hit a column in front of the store, then struck the store, according to media reports at the time. The driver was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
Photos and videos of the scene showed the vehicle up against the store’s entrance. A column that previous photos showed was supporting the front corner of the building was missing, apparently knocked down in the crash. Subsequent photos of the building over the years indicate that the column was never replaced.
A review of city records did not show any construction permits issued for repairs to the building. On Tuesday, the city confirmed that was the case.
“We are still trying to understand why the property owners did not apply for a permit with City Planning and Development to repair the building after it was struck by a car in 2016,” said a statement from Lanè Johnson, a city spokesperson. “Ultimately, the responsibility for the structural integrity and safety of a building lies with its property owner and manager.”
On Friday afternoon, Heather Frierson, emergency communications coordinator for the city manager’s office, told The Star in an email that “the City continues to investigate this tragic incident in coordination with multiple departments.”
When asked what the procedure would have been following the 2016 crash, she said: “At accident scenes where there is structural damage, first responders typically request that a City employee from the Dangerous Buildings division be contacted. This was followed in 2016 when a driver struck a building and caused significant damage.”
She did not elaborate on what resulted from the notification of the Dangerous Buildings Division.
“Ultimately, the responsibility for a building’s structural integrity and safety rests with the property owner and manager,” she said. “Compliance with the building code and other regulations is a continuous obligation of the property owner. This duty exists regardless of whether enforcement action has been initiated, or a compliance assistance visit has occurred.”
The building is owned by the Arthur Fels Co., a local real estate company that owns and manages properties in Kansas City and across the country. Vice President Steven Trenton has not responded to multiple requests for comment over the past week.
Family Dollar also did not answer questions about the removal of the support column or what, if anything, was done to reinforce the walls and roof after the 2016 crash. A company spokeswoman responded Friday but only with a brief statement it first issued on July 27.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragedy at the leased Family Dollar store on Broadway Boulevard in Kansas City,” it said. “Our hearts and thoughts are with those impacted. We are conducting wellness checks with our employees and offering them resources and assistance. The Company is conducting an investigation into this matter.”
Slider, who has reviewed major building collapse cases — including the 2021 condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, that killed 98 — said almost all building codes require a building permit for structural issues.
“It generally falls in the term of life safety issues,” he said. “If you paint the building, that’s not a life safety issue, and most municipalities would not require a permit for that. But if you’re changing or altering the structure — and the removal of that column would alter that structure — that would be typically life safety, and would have required a permit in most municipalities.”
In reviewing the photos taken after Sunday’s collapse, Sliker said he saw no evidence or remnants of a cantilever beam, which would have supported the bar joists of the roof that extended to the corner that crumbled.
A cantilever is a structural element that extends horizontally from a vertical base, such as a wall to which it is firmly attached, and has no support at the outer end. Cantilevers can be formed into beams or slabs and are used in everything from bridges and balconies to canopies and furniture.
The lack of a cantilever, Slider said, “is telling me that the column at that corner served as the support for that beam that would have carried those joists.”
Removal of column compromised safety
Was safety compromised by failing to replace the support column after the 2016 crash?
“Absolutely,” Slider said. “It would appear that the column was an important and critical part for the support of the roof and the walls.”
Removing the column, he said, changed the load distribution.
“And as a result, you needed to put the column back, or you needed to make some fairly significant structural modifications, basically redistributing or changing the way the loads are placed on the wall,” he said. “And neither one of those appear to have been done.”
Slider noted that the recent photos clearly show the roof was starting to separate from the building.
“So what you’re seeing is once that column is removed, that section of the wall is now moving down because it lost the support,” he said. “You would have needed a structural column in there to fix that.”
After the column was removed, Slider said, “they could have rigged up some kind of a strut or bracing or something, but it would have required a whole lot of effort.”
“So if I had to guess, somebody went and sort of tacked it back together, and they really needed a structural engineer to come out and look at this,” he said. “They could have revised the structure to eliminate that column, but in order to make that work without the column, there had to have been some kind of a strap or steel or something at the top of the beam, right underneath those bar joists that would have extended out.
“And I’m not seeing that in this configuration.”
Slider described the way the process should work:
“If the owner comes to me and they say, ‘Rick, I’ve got this problem. The column’s been hit,’ I come in and do the evaluation,” he said, “and I typically write the report.”
The report is usually provided to the city’s building department, stating the reason for the collapse and describing it as a life safety issue, Slider said. Then he would prepare a set of construction drawings detailing what repairs are needed to get the building back to the code requirements. The contractor then submits those drawings, which are signed and sealed by a structural engineer, to the city’s building department, he said.
“The building department would then do their plan review and ultimately issue a permit,” he said. “The contractor would then build it.”
Slider said there would typically be an inspection by a structural engineer as well as inspections performed by the city’s building department.
“Once the work’s completed, usually the engineer signs off, and usually there’s a sign-off by whoever the inspectors were for the building department, and then they issue what they call a certificate of occupancy, meaning the work’s been completed, you’re back in order, and you’re open for business,” he said.
But that process didn’t appear to have occurred in the Family Dollar case.
This story was originally published August 4, 2025 at 12:08 PM.
