Historic building in downtown La Porte collapses

LA PORTE, Ind. -- A portion of a historic building in downtown La Porte collapsed Wednesday around 9:30 p.m.

The front half of the building collapsed, including the facade.

The building, in the 700 block of Lincolnway, is undergoing renovations, but no one was at the site at the time of the collapse.

Contractors are working to ensure the buildings adjoining the collapsed building are safe.

"The building, built around 1875, had a lot of repairs over the years. There's a structural engineer that looked at the building recently, everything seems to be in pretty good condition, but again with buildings this age things do happen. We're just grateful that this was late last evening, and no one was at the site. No was working on the building," said Chief Engineer Nick Minich.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation.