Another Glass Pane Hits The Street In Times Square

A 15-square-foot pane of glass fell from a skyscraper in Times Square yesterday, shattering on the pavement just blocks away from the spot where a 1,500-pound pane hit the ground last week, authorities said.

At about 2 p.m., the 3- by 5-foot piece of window glass fell from One Times Square, a building at the corner of Broadway and 43rd Street, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings.

Before it fell, the pane was between the seventh and eighth floors of the 23-story-tall building, she said.

There were no injuries, according to a Fire Department spokesman.

Police briefly closed off Broadway between 43rd and 42nd streets while Emergency Service Unit personnel secured the window to make sure nothing else would fall, according to a fire department spokeswoman.

The Department of Buildings sent investigators to the scene at about 2:30 p.m., according to a department spokeswoman. She said investigators found that renovation work may have been going on in the vicinity of the panel, but that there was no evidence of work being done on the glass that fell.

The department is requesting that the owner of the building submit an engineering report on the exterior walls of the building, and that the owner repair the area, according to the spokeswoman.

An Atlanta-based firm, Jamestown One Times Square LP, owns the building, according to a spokesman for the Department of Finance. A representative of the firm could not be reached for comment.

Last Tuesday, a 65-square-foot pane of glass and steel fell from One Bryant Park, a building a few blocks away from Times Square. Two people suffered minor injuries in that incident.

Earlier yesterday morning, a car crash occurred at the same intersection where the glass fell. Four people were sent to the hospital after that incident.

One Times Square houses large billboards, video screens, and a news ticker, and is perhaps best known as the place where the New Years' Eve ball drops.