Crane That Smashed Into St. Petersburg Building Raises Safety Questions

Official says it was too late to dismantle prior to hurricane

The mast of a tower crane in St. Petersburg, Fla., broke apart during Hurricane Milton, and struck a building across the street while the boom landed in the street, blocking it. The failure triggered a discussion of safety precautions. Photo: AP /Mike Carlson

Could the tower crane whose mast section broke off and smashed into a St. Petersburg, Fla., office building during Hurricane Milton have been better secured? Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said he believes no regulations are needed to prevent similar accidents and added that the crane should have been "taken down."

But a city official had said that there wasn’t enough time to do that.

The crane was being used on the Residences at 400 Central project in downtown St. Petersburg. The mast, secured to the apartment building frame, failed near the top level. The building as designed will be 515 ft tall when complete. General contractor Suffolk Construction Co. is scheduled to finish the project next year for owner Red Apple Real Estate.

The mast crushed a corner of the office building across from the project site and the boom landed on the street. No injuries were reported.

In a statement to TV station Spectrum News, the crane’s owner, Boston-based Liberty Companies, said the crane was operating at 550 ft and at that height was “designed to withstand wind gusts in excess of 140 mph.”

“However,” the statement continued, “like all structures, swirling and vertical hurricane winds can place unique pressure on a crane.”

An independent inspector had certified the crane as safe to operate following Hurricane Helene, which had struck a week earlier, the company added.

The remaining, attached tower crane mast sections at The Residences at 400 Central in St. Petersburg, photographed on Oct. 13, 2024. Photo: Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Stock Photo

The crane boom blocking the street formed the backdrop for DeSantis’ news conference the next day.

He told reporters that he didn't believe new crane regulations were needed. "I think the question is, ‘should there be more regulation, or should [there just be] more common sense’," DeSantis said. "I mean, do we have to regulate everything? I think most people take cranes down."

Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the media, with the fallen crane boom in the background, and said that common sense was needed to prevent such dangerous events during hurricanes. Photo: Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press Wire/Alamy Stock Photo

Another perspective on what occurred came a day later.

Con Tyre, an official with the city of St. Petersburg, said at a press conference on Oct. 12 that that “we actually issued an order, I believe it was Saturday, to try to remove those upper sections of the tower crane mast, which was connected to the building frame, and we found out there was just not enough time. They would have to find a crew, they weren’t available.”

One more view emerged from Tim Lawler, a St. Petersburg resident. He told TV station WFLA that “we had been given a warning, certain blocks that were within the crane's reach [to] ‘be careful, and/or basically evacuate. Cause it could happen.'”

Deputy Editor Richard Korman helps run ENR's business and legal news and investigations, selects ENR's commentary and oversees editorial content on ENR.com. In 2023 the American Society of Business Publication Editors awarded Richard the Stephen Barr Award, the highest honor for a single feature story or investigation, for his story on the aftermath of a terrible auto crash in Kentucky in 2019, and in 2015 the American Business Media awarded him the Timothy White Award for investigations of surety fraud and workplace bullying. A member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, Richard has been a fellow on drone safety with the McGraw Center for Business Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Richard's freelance writing has appeared in the Seattle Times, the New York Times, Business Week and the websites of The Atlantic and Salon.com. He admires construction projects that finish on time and budget, compensate all team members fairly and record zero fatalities or serious injuries.