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Bricks Come Crashing Down Onto Sidewalk Along Milwaukee Ave. in Downpour

By Alisa Hauser | June 8, 2015 6:23pm
 Around 4:30 p.m., bricks fell from a building at 1437 N. Milwaukee Ave.  There were no injuries.
Bricks Falling in Wicker Park
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WICKER PARK — During Monday's fast rainstorm with heavy winds, about two dozen bricks crashed down from the facade of an old Wicker Park building and onto the sidewalk below — shocking passersby and area workers, but causing no injuries.

The bricks fell from the third floor of a four-story building at 1437 N. Milwaukee Ave.

"It took down part of a tree, thankfully no one was walking by," said Felicia Govan, a front desk receptionist at Fringe, a hair salon on the ground floor of the building.

Govan said she and a few other salon workers were looking out at the rainstorm when they "heard a huge crashing noise."

The bricks fell round 4:30 p.m., according to Pat Curley, a Chicago Fire Department worker with Battalion 12.

"Nobody hurt, thank God," Curley said.

Police were roping off the sidewalk with caution tape shortly after the incident.

The building is owned by the Portugal family and is estimated to be 134 years old, county records show. The location is next door to a planned Taco Bell that is seeking a liquor license.

Gary Portugal, the building's owner, could not be reached for comment, but a worker for Portugal said, "We are taking care of this immediately and fixing it now."

Across the street, Iris Aponte, a worker at Hollywood Cleaners, 1439 N. Milwaukee Ave., said she witnessed the bricks falling.

"It was a big pop all at once. We watched the bricks come down. It happened very fast," Aponte said.

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