CLOSE Details about the Webber Building collapse. Rebecca Burylo

Buy Photo A portion of the Webber building has collapsed in downtown Montgomery. (Photo: Lloyd Gallman/Advertiser)Buy Photo

Developers plan to press on with the restoration of the historic Webber Building in downtown Montgomery despite a partial building collapse Thursday that has left surrounding streets blocked indefinitely.

"Certainly, this is a setback, but I'm of the belief that it is not insurmountable," said David Payne Sr., owner of the building and president of Design Build South LLC., which is handling the restoration.

No one was injured when the northeast corner of the building collapsed early Thursday afternoon, although workers said they just barely escaped in time.

Structural engineers were at the scene of the more than 150-year-old building at Perry and Monroe streets Thursday, Payne said. They will make a recommendation at some point about how feasible the restoration is, he added.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear, although workers were installing windows at the basement level and some workers on the scene said that the chain reaction of the collapse might have started there.

The following streets will be closed indefinitely: Perry Street from Dexter Avenue to Madison Avenue and Monroe Street from Perry to First Alabama Plaza.

Tim Brown said he and several others were working on the second floor on the other side of the building from the collapse when he saw a cloud of smoke and heard someone shouting, "get out of the building."

He said he and the other workers escaped from the building just in time and that the section that collapsed "fell in while we (were) running out."

"It was a spooky situation, I can tell you that," Brown said.

Montgomery Fire and Rescue received the call of the collapse at 1:17 p.m. and nine units were dispatched to the scene, according to District Fire Chief Ronnie Bozeman.

About 15 workers were inside at the time, including four in the basement, according to workers at the scene.

Payne said the building superintendent, Brian Brakenhoff, saw a crack in the wall and heard or saw a brick pop out, and that he acted quickly to get everyone out of the building.

"It is a miracle today that no one was injured," Payne said. "When I first heard the news, I was sure that someone was killed."

The two buildings west of the Webber have also been evacuated until a construction engineer can deem their structural safety.

The air quality was checked by Hazmat and is clear of any hazardous gases.

Residents are urged to keep their distance and keep outside of the collapse zone, which is deemed to be one and half the size of the structure.

Payne said, however, that so much work had already been done on the building that it appears to be salvageable.

"We were well into the construction, repair and restoration of the building, so it looks like now we just have an exterior wall to repair," he said.

Payne said the building is too much of a gem and has too much history for him to abandon the project.

The Webber Building was the home of the Montgomery Theater starting in 1860, according to the Landmarks Foundation. It's where actor John Wilkes Booth once performed and where the notes for the song "Dixie" were first written down.

After the theater closed in 1907, it became Webber's Department Store until that closed in the late 1990s. The building sat deteriorating under a collapsing roof until the Montgomery Riverfront Development Foundation purchased the building for $325,000 in 2001.

Payne signed an agreement to purchase the building from the Montgomery Riverfront Development Foundation about four years ago.

The renovation of the building includes plans for retail space on the first floor, office space on the second floor and apartments on the third floor.

The Landmarks Foundation offered some words of encouragement for Payne in a statement Thursday.

"Landmarks has suffered similar setbacks during renovation efforts in the past. Knox Hall, an 1848 building on Perry Street, was damaged by fire in the 1980s. Local historian Mary Ann Neeley commented, 'Landmarks was not daunted by the setback, and now Knox Hall is standing tall and glorious today,' " the statement reads.

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