View of the building from City Hall in Davenport. (City of Davenport photo)
Another former resident of the Davenport apartment building that partially collapsed last month is suing Andrew Wold, the building’s owner.
Broc Nelson is the fourth tenant to allege it was negligence on the part of Wold, his LLCs, the City of Davenport and others that led to the deadly cave-in. Nelson lived in the building for three years and says since Wold took ownership in 2021, the property went downhill. He says they went without heat for a full month during the winter.
“It’s a clear incitement of greed and capitalism, really, just letting people suffer so that you can keep squeezing every dime out of them because you’d rather not spend the money,” Nelson says. “I don’t know why people do this.” Nelson was playing a video game on his first day off in a week, when he felt the building shake and heard a big rush of air. From his window, he could see nothing through the dust. Nelson threw on some shoes, grabbed his phone and keys, and left with the shirt on his back.
“No wallet, no documents to prove who I am, no way to pay for anything,” Nelson says. “That ended up being a total loss of all my possessions: memories, a very large record collection, just all gone in an instant.” Outside, he and other residents were shocked to find the building’s western wall had collapsed, killing three tenants, injuring several others, and displacing about a hundred residents.
(By Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)