The Greystar Review · Follow-up

A Falling Crane, a Collapsed Balcony, a Fire: The Catastrophic Cases in the Greystar Record

Three events, three very different legal outcomes, and what each does and does not establish.

A tall construction crane silhouetted against a smoky dusk sky above a mid-rise apartment building with scorched windows, caution tape in the foreground and one red warning light, in sepia ink-wash style.
Illustration generated with ElevenLabs. It depicts no real people, properties or documents.

Most entries in The Greystar Review are about money, fees and paperwork. A few involve deaths and displacement. These three events ended in a confidential settlement, a jury verdict and a settled lawsuit, and the differences matter as much as the events.

Berkeley, June 2015: a balcony collapse

A balcony at Library Gardens in Berkeley collapsed in June 2015, killing six young people, five of them Irish students and one from Rohnert Park, and injuring seven. In November 2017, KTVU reported that the victims reached a confidential settlement with the building's owner, BlackRock, and its property manager, Greystar. As part of the agreement, the parties agreed to adopt regular balcony-inspection policies.

Because the settlement is confidential, the record has no amount and no findings. What is public is the inspection commitment.

Dallas, June 2019: a crane collapse

On June 9, 2019, a tower crane at a Greystar development collapsed onto the neighboring Elan City Lights apartments during a storm, killing a resident and injuring five others. FOX 4 reported that displaced tenants described uncertainty as hotel and daily-needs payments were set to end.

In April 2023, a Dallas County jury awarded about $860 million to the resident's parents. The Real Deal reported that the plaintiffs argued Greystar let the crane's inspection lapse and was responsible for the crane not being left in weathervane mode, which lets it swing freely in wind. FOX 4 reported the jury found Greystar bore responsibility and that the crane supplier, Bigge Crane, was not found at fault.

A jury verdict is not the end of a case. Our record does not confirm what happened after the verdict, so the figure should be read as what the jury awarded and not as what was paid.

Atlanta, August 2020: the Avana on Main fire

A fire at Avana on Main on August 19, 2020 displaced more than 200 residents, according to Atlanta Magazine. In August 2021, more than 50 displaced residents sued GS Main Street, Greystar Management Services and a service technician in the State Court of Fulton County, Georgia.

Atlanta Magazine's feature recounts the residents' claims: that an employee started the fire while working on rooftop HVAC units, and that faulty fire alarms and expired extinguishers had gone unaddressed. The complex denied the allegations and settled with many residents. The magazine reports the suit as now settled.

Three roles, three outcomes

Greystar's role differs in each: property manager in Berkeley, developer in Dallas, manager and named defendant in Atlanta. The outcomes differ as well, from a confidential agreement with a policy change, to a verdict with unresolved aftermath, to a settlement that came with a denial of the allegations. None of these is the same thing as a regulator's finding, and each should be read against its own source.

Read the record

Each item below is on The Greystar Review with a link to its original source.

This article summarizes public records and published reporting collected by The Greystar Review. Allegations are described as allegations, and a settlement is not a finding of wrongdoing unless a court or agency says so. If something here is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.