By Ben Fractenberg and Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo Staff
CHINATOWN — Demolition began Wednesday on a pair of Chinatown buildings destroyed by a fire last weekend that left an elderly man dead and more than 200 residents homeless.
The demolition of 283 and 285-287 Grand St. was ordered Tuesday after the Department of Buildings deemed the two six-story buildings structurally unstable, an agency spokesperson said.
At least two other adjacent buildings were damaged by the blaze, forcing hundreds of evacuations and the closure of multiple businesses in the area.
Sing Ho, an 87-year-old tenant of the top floor at 285 Grand St., perished in the fire while struggling to find a way out of the building.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, the FDNY said. The Daily News reported that the blaze likely stemmed from electrical issues in the rear of a 99-cent store at 283 Grand St.
Crews were removing the gutted buildings’ fire escapes on Thursday as they begin a floor-by-floor take down of the heavily compromised structures.
Police at the scene said the city estimated the demolition process will take up to three weeks.
Meanwhile, 239 displaced residents that have been receiving assistance from the Red Cross are now working with the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development to find alternate housing options, said Red Cross spokesperson Marianne Darlak.
“It’s beyond the American Red Cross,” she acknowledged of the ongoing effort to provide residents with food, clothing, health services and temporary housing at a Midtown hotel. “People will be given alternatives if they aren’t staying at the hotel.”
A resident of the neighborhood for the past 30 years who owns a business nearby wondered about the fate of the residents abruptly uprooted from their lives.
“How do you evacuate 200 people in an instant?” said Juan, who declined to give his last name. “Count the apartments and tell me where 200 people are living now.”
Local elected officials will hold a meeting Thursday to discuss medium and long-term housing solutions for the displaced tenants at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, at 5:30pm, 62 Mott St.
