Alan and Jeffrey Henick: Owners of collapsed NYC parking garage are multi-millionaire brothers who flip properties
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: The owners of the recently-collapsed Financial District parking garage have been identified as wealthy New Yorkers who have bought and sold properties for decades. Property records revealed that the brothers, Alan and Jeffrey Henick, formed a company called 57 Ann Street Realty Associates, and bought the lot after taking out a $3 million mortgage in December 1988.
The parking lot collapsed in New York City's Financial District on Tuesday, April 18, killing one person and injuring many others. According to a preliminary report by the Fire Department of New York, the cause of the collapse was possibly the age of the building, built in 1925 and approved as a garage in 1957, and the number of cars on its top deck.
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Who are Alan and Jeffrey Henick?
Alan headed WB Acquisition, a company that sold a commercial property near the Brooklyn waterfront to a development group back in 2012, for about $20 million, as per the real estate website The Real Deal. He is also the CEO of Brooklyn-based Western Carpet and Linoleum, a business that operates out of the same Williamsburg neighborhood. He is also the owner of a $1.4 million gated home in Syosset, New York.
According to Jeffrey's LinkedIn profile, he is the principal of Wickshire Capital, LLC. It is a Delaware-registered firm that he has been running since 2011. He owns a 6-bedroom, 7-bathroom mansion in Armonk, New York. The plot consists of a pool, tennis courts and a library. He has placed it on the market for $3.9 million, according to the New York Post. He also owns a $3.4 million, luxury two-bedroom apartment in Miami.
The Financial District parking garage collapse
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has now opened an official investigation into why the building collapsed. As per city records, there are as many as four open violations against the building’s owners. All of them are related to construction issues. However, it is unclear if the defects found by inspectors were in any way responsible for the collapse.
There were allegedly broken and defective fire stairs, as well as a “loose piece of concrete in danger of falling” in various locations. Other complaints included the exit lighting not working and exit signs not “properly illuminating," as well as "missing concrete covering steel beams" and "defective concrete with exposed rear cracks," according to Daily Mail.
Additionally, two open DOB violations regarding the elevator on the property, issued in 2014, exist. Three of them were complaints marked as Category One or hazardous issues, indicating that they should have been immediately looked into and rectified. In total, there were 64 violations, with complaints dating back to 1976.
Willis Moore, 59, tragically died during the collapse. His trapped body was removed by rescue workers and handed over to the city medical examiner on Wednesday, April 19.
