Tenants who lived in an Iowa building predicted it would collapse before it did, source says

The six-story building that collapsed in Davenport, Iowa May 28, 2023. Eight people have been rescued from the debris so far. Scott Olson / Staff

• A historic building in Davenport, Iowa collapsed Sunday. Eight people have been rescued. 
• Tenants predicted the building would collapse as far back as last year, according to local reports. 
• There were plumbing issues, water damage, and ceiling collapses. 

Months before a six-story apartment building collapsed in Davenport, Iowa on Sunday, residents were trying to sound the alarm, tenants told local news outlets amid ongoing search-and-rescue efforts at the site. 

"The tenants told us the building was going to collapse," Jennifer Smith, owner of Fourth Street Nutrition — a shop located on the bottom floor of the complex — told The Des Moines Register.

Smith herself has been filing complaints about the building's condition since last year, when she noticed water damage and watched the bathroom ceiling collapse in December, she told the Register. 

She's not alone: other residents told the Register there were many structural problems in the building that the landlord never properly addressed. The city ordered the landlord to make repairs to the building, CNN reported this morning. 

Located at 324 Main Street and built in 1907, the building, dubbed the Davenport, was bought by an LLC registered to Andrew Wold in 2021, according to state and county public records. Wold did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

As of Monday at 8 p.m. EST, eight people have been pulled out of the debris, according to CBS News, and officials say there are no known people missing. The city has ordered the building to be demolished. 

This comes a year-and-a-half after the condominium collapse in Miami in November 2021. In that case, too, residents and local officials had noticed structural issues with the building before it collapsed.