GLEN BURNIE, Md. — More than a month after Empire Towers was evacuated, approximately 47 vehicles remain trapped inside the Glen Burnie office building's parking garage.
One belongs to Victoria Vance, a mother of four whose paid-off 2025 Chevy Traverse has been stuck inside since July 9.
Vance and her family have been relying on her husband's Mazda 3, which can't fit all six of them. Even with just Vance and her four kids, space is tight.
"Four kids to a grocery store and trying to lug back a week full of groceries? It's not happening," Vance said.
The family has missed summer activities, vacations and even dinners together.
"So we have a vehicle that covers 5 of us, so that's 4 kids and 1 adult. So 1 adult always has to stay home," Vance said.
Empire Towers ownership offered $3,000 to each individual with a vehicle trapped in the garage. Management previously told WMAR-2 News the payment is intended for temporary alternative transportation and has no conditions attached.
But Vance has been reluctant to spend hers.
"I mean, I've priced it out and I think $3,000 would probably get us two months of a good sized vehicle," she said.
Vance has been holding onto the money until her children return to school, when she expects to need a rental most. But Vance says the bigger problem is that she still doesn't know the condition of her Traverse making it difficult to decide how to use the money.
"I really would like a picture of my vehicle. Like what kind of state is it in?" Vance said.
She says her insurance company has already exhausted the $200 available under her rental coverage and won't make a decision about the Traverse until it can see the vehicle.
Vance also raised concerns about possible water damage. She said someone who drove past the garage saw water coming out and that she was told by a contractor the garage had flooded.
"We've gotten no information of how bad the flood was. We have no idea if it was in the vehicles, like what is going on," she said.
WMAR-2 News asked Empire Towers management whether the garage flooded, whether any trapped vehicles sustained water damage and whether owners or their insurance companies can obtain photos or other information about the condition of their vehicles. We're waiting to hear back.
Stabilization work expected to continue through September
There has been progress stabilizing the building.
In an update sent to tenants this week, Empire Towers management said Phase 1 of the emergency stabilization was completed Aug. 14. Crews installed approximately 1,500 vertical shoring posts inside the garage to support the concrete slabs.
Phase 2 is now underway and involves installing horizontal braces. Management said that work is projected to take about six weeks, through the end of September, although the timeline could change.
"Until Phase 2 is completed, the building and garage are still deemed to be unsafe for entry by any persons not involved in the emergency stabilization work," management told tenants.
Once Phase 2 is complete and the building is stabilized, management says it will work with its engineers, contractors and Anne Arundel County to determine how tenants can safely enter the building to retrieve personal property.
There is a separate effort underway to determine what happens to the approximately 47 vehicles trapped in the garage.
"We expect to have an update for next steps on the vehicle issue within the next 2 weeks," management told tenants.
Empire Towers ownership previously told WMAR-2 News it was "highly unlikely that any vehicles will be safe to remove from the garage within the next 90 days," but said that timeline could be revised based on information from structural engineers as the shoring work continues.
Inside Empire Towers when it happened
Vance was working on the seventh floor of Empire Towers on July 9 when the building became unstable.
"It was crazy. I was actually on the phone with my husband and I felt the whole building shake, and I was just like, oh gosh, I need to get off the phone because I don't know what just happened," Vance said.
One of her co-workers took a photo inside the garage before the evacuation. It shows the ceiling dropped to just above several vehicles and appears to be resting on at least one.
Anne Arundel County says the building's garage was compromised during active and unpermitted construction work.
The county says its investigation into that work, which is "suspected to have caused the structural integrity failure," remains ongoing.
A 150-foot safety perimeter also remains around the building. According to the county, it will stay in place until the owner provides certification from a structural engineer that the building is stable and no longer at risk of collapse.
For Vance, the stabilization timeline still doesn't answer the question she needs answered now: What condition is her car in?
"We have some insurance companies that have totaled out vehicles and then others that are saying we're not going to total them out until we see the vehicle and that could take 3 to 6 months," Vance said. "Like we just don't know."
Nearby businesses also impacted
The closure continues to affect businesses surrounding Empire Towers.
Anne Arundel County says it is working with state and federal partners to explore additional relief programs and has been in contact with impacted businesses about their needs.
The county received 75 applications for its Empire Towers Disaster Recovery Grant program. Of those, 51 businesses were deemed eligible and awarded a combined $127,500. The county says all but one of those businesses has received its check.