Columbia building official recommends portion of Tenth Street garage remains closed after brick, drywall fell from the column

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A city of Columbia official recommended a staircase at the Tenth Street garage downtown remains closed until maintenance work is completed.

City fire crews closed the garage and blocked off a portion of the street Friday night for a "fire incident."

Columbia Building Regulations Supervisor John Simon said in an email the staircase had water damage and Some brick and deteriorated drywall fell from a decorative column inside the garage.

"There are deteriorated masonry joints on the south side of the tower above the decorative stone shelf that are allowing water to get through," Simon said.

Simon said any repairs should be simple to fix but that crews need to make sure the ceiling is secure and there are no loose bricks before the staircase reopens. It was not clear if the roof had a water leak, Simon said.

The building official also recommended some drywall be removed from the area to get a better view of what's happening to the drywall. He added that nuts for several bolts were missing from brackets at the top level of the garage.