SEATTLE - Three people were hurt Friday morning when bricks and concrete fell from the facade of a downtown Seattle building.
The facade fell just before 9 a.m. at the building that houses the Icon Grill restaurant. A 30-foot wide section made of brick and concrete came down from the top of the building, hitting the restaurant sign and three people below.
Police and rescue workers rushed to the scene and transported one woman and two men to Harborview Medical Center.
Harborview says one victim, believed to be a man hit in the head by bricks, is now listed in serious condition in intensive care. The two others - a 23-year-old woman who suffered a leg injury and a man who had a back injury - were treated and released.
Employees at the nearby Sound Community Bank said they heard a loud noise during the collapse. One of the bank workers said it sounded like a plane flying down 5th Avenue.
There are pieces of the facade still dangling from the wall. Police have blocked off 5th avenue at Virginia. Inspectors from the city's building department have looked at the building and determined that the brick veneer is what peeled off. They say the basic concrete structure of the building appears sound. It is unkown if the collapse is weather related.
Nick Musser, Executive Chef of the Icon Grill, says that no employees were injured in the incident.
According to Musser the Icon Grill opened in the building in 1998. The building is managed by Grubb & Ellis. Musser says he does not know when the restaurant will reopen.
In the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, a magnitude 6.8 quake, portions of the same building came down on the north side of the building. The damage was repaired.
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