The Booty Parlour gym accidentally demolished after excavator slips
A woman had to be rescued by firefighters on Sydneyâs northern beaches on Tuesday after the gym she was in was destroyed by mistake.
The Booty Parlour in Balgowlah was left with a massive hole in its wall and a sagging roof, after an excavator working on a neighbouring construction site slipped on a pile of rubble and crashed into it.
The woman inside the gym was not injured and no one was in the upstairs massage parlour at the time.
Police said the two-storey building on the corner of Sydney Road and Woodland Street was âmassively weakenedâ.
Engineers have assessed the gym and said it was shifting and cracking, and will need to be pulled down.
Sydney Road will be closed in both directions between Woodland and Condamine Streets for most of Wednesday while the building is demolished, this time intentionally.
The Booty Parlourâs owner Jessica Zukowski said she was told she was not allowed back into her collapsing gym.
âWe wonât be able to retrieve anything from inside â itâs all gone,â she said.
Incredibly, Ms Zukowski was not holding any of her scheduled classes on Tuesday afternoon as she was at home celebrating her birthday.
She said the building was crushed about 5.30pm, which would usually be peak workout time.
âIâm so grateful that no one was in there and everyone was OK,â she said.
She said blood, sweat and tears went into opening her business two years ago and she had lost more than $200,000 worth of gym equipment.
âWe spent a lot of money setting it up because itâs all quite specialised,â she said.
In a Facebook post, she said it was âa super sad dayâ.
Acting NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Dave Darcy said bringing down the building safely would be a major challenge.
âWe know a closed Sydney Road will cause big problems during the morning peak for motorists and bus commuters but safety must be paramount,â he said.
It is hoped the site will be cleared in time for Wednesdayâs afternoon peak hour.
â ABC
Want to see more stories from The New Daily in your Google search results?
- Click here to set The New Daily as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "The New Daily". That's it.
