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A section of the University Hotel, formerly the Broadway Central Hotel, collapsed on August 3, 1973. Four hotel residents were killed as emergency service workers ran for cover.

Before the collapse, operators at the Mercer Center reported cracks and shifting walls to hotel management. Walls in one theater were heard groaning, and operators sought an engineer that afternoon but could not find one.

By 5 p.m., bricks were falling from the theater walls, and the theaters were evacuated.