Residents learned Wednesday night that it will be several months before they can move back into the crumbling North End building on Hanover Street that they’ve called home.
“I feel very sorry for everyone. I can only imagine what it’s like to be locked out of your home without any notice,” said the property owner, who delivered the news at a meeting Wednesday.
Tenant Gabrielle Dalvet said the situation has left her feeling “a little bit confused and helpless, vulnerable.”
Last week, Boston’s building commissioner ordered everyone out after inspectors found bricks were separating from structural beams, which had been corroded by rust.
“It’s reached a point of deterioration that we’re not comfortable to enter into the building,” one official said. “So until we stabilize that they will not be allowed back into the building.”
Rebecca Skudder owns a running studio in the building, and she has no idea when she or her employees can go back to work.
“It’s a challenge for sure. It was a big shock to us and we’ve been in business for three years to have to close your doors is challenging as a small business from a lot of different standpoints. I’m out of a job,” she said.
In the next couple of weeks, when engineers have stabilized the building, everyone must move all their stuff out of the 24 units, not knowing exactly when they can return.
“I think we all knew it was going to come to that to fix the building, but you don’t want to think about. So that means, ‘Wait a second, that’s not really my home anymore,'” one woman said.