November 9–16, 2000

city beat

Alarming Developments

Working without permits, contractors set off a fire in a Philadelphia Management Corp. property.

by Ralph Cipriano

A demolition crew using acetylene torches at night to illegally remove pipes from a vacant Center City building owned by Philadelphia Management Corp. accidentally set off a one-alarm fire early Wednesday, prompting city officials to shut down the building.

"There was work being done in the building without permits," said Dominic Verdi, deputy commissioner of the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I). Workers were removing old sprinklers when they ignited sparks that caused a smoky fire on the top floor of the five-story building at 1222-26 Arch St. No injuries were reported.

Verdi said the demolition work was illegal. "Whoever was doing it was trying to hide it," he said. "You don’t burn pipes in the middle of the night." He added, "Our understanding is the contractors did work for Mr. Caplan."

Ronald Caplan, president of Philadelphia Management, did not return City Paper’s call. The firm figures prominently in an ongoing city investigation. The inspector general is investigating decisions by top L&I officials to dismiss 100 fire code violations at 15 properties owned or managed by Philadelphia Management.

Caplan, a regular Democratic party contributor, is also a friend of L&I Commissioner Edward J. McLaughlin. Sources say McLaughlin told at least 50 L&I employees at a meeting in September that he previously rented an apartment from Caplan, and that he also asked the developer to give his son a job, which he did.

L&I has caught workers operating in Philadelphia Management properties without permits on other occasions, said Verdi, who declined to elaborate. The firm also has moved hundreds of tenants into six Center City high rises in the past two years without obtaining necessary certificates of occupancy that verify the buildings are up to code, Fire Department officials have said.

Last month, the city evicted a dozen tenants from a Philadelphia Management high rise at 315 Arch because it was unsafe, and did not have a certificate of occupancy. Tenants at another Philadelphia Management property at 1300 Chestnut said they moved into a 10-story high rise while it was under construction up to eight weeks before the firm received a certificate of occupancy from the city.

Regarding the fire at 12th and Arch, neighbors reported that a demolition crew had been working inside the building at night for weeks, according to a Fire Department source. The five-story building was built in 1881 and is a former manufacturing center. The building runs the length of the block from Arch to Filbert, and is at least 100 by 250 feet in size, the Fire Department source said. The fire began in the southeast corner of the fifth floor, and burned through two lower floors.

The fire was phoned in at 6:26 a.m. and was reported under control at 7:11 a.m. Firefighters found cut sprinkler pipes lying around and canisters of flammable gas. "It appeared they were in the process of removing the sprinkler system," the Fire Department source said.

Fire officials have been complaining about Philadelphia Management properties for months.

"This kind of an incident in a Caplan property is what we worry about and what we fear," the source said. "Until Mr. Caplan is made to follow the city rules, our firefighters and residents will continue to be at risk."

Deputy L&I Commissioner Verdi said that L&I posted a cease-operations order because of a lack of city permits. The contractor needed a permit to take out the sprinkler system. Also, workers should have maintained a fire watch, during which security guards are posted, Verdi said.

The building was shut down because of an unsafe condition involving a front wall, Verdi said. He said that L&I officials were unaware that contractors had been working in the building. "If nobody calls us to say ‘Hey, there’s somebody working in the building at night,’ we don’t know about it," he said.

The fire is under investigation by the Fire Marshall’s Office, which is trying to determine whether criminal charges should be brought. The Fire Marshal’s Office has asked Philadelphia Management to supply information on the contractors, who, so far, have not been interviewed, the Fire Department source said.

For previous City Paper coverage, see The L&I Files.