Taylor Wach bought her first car new, got it serviced, then parked it on the lower level of the Empire Towers garage in Glen Burnie — and hasn't been able to drive it since. More than two and a half months after the building's parking structure was compromised during construction work, the 28-year-old speech-language pathologist says her vehicle sits near a collapsed concrete slab, and nobody can tell her when, or if, she'll get it back.
A Car Parked in the Wrong Spot at the Wrong Time
Wach parked on P2, a lower level of the garage, specifically to avoid ongoing construction she'd noticed on P1, according to CBS Baltimore. It didn't matter. Empire Towers was evacuated on July 9 after the parking garage beneath the privately owned, 10-story office building was found to have been compromised during active construction work, according to Anne Arundel County. Roughly 100 occupants were evacuated that day, and no injuries were reported.
Empire Towers told Wach her vehicle is in a compromised position and cannot be removed without risking the building's structural integrity or endangering workers, per CBS Baltimore's report. The company has given her no timeframe for when that might change, and has said permanent repairs are needed before most cars on P2 can come out at all.
Still Unsafe, More Than Two Months Later
The county's own assessment has not budged: as of today, the building remains classified as unsafe, meaning no public entry is permitted, according to Anne Arundel County's incident update page. Anyone near the site must stay outside a 150-foot safety perimeter because of the risk of collapse, the county says. Responsibility for fixing the privately owned building and communicating with affected people falls to Empire Towers' ownership and management company, not the county, and the owner must retain a licensed structural engineering firm to evaluate the site before remediation can proceed.
How many vehicles remain inside depends on when you ask. More than a month after the evacuation, roughly 47 vehicles were reported still trapped inside the garage, according to a report from WMAR-2 News. More recently, WBAL-TV reported that 19 cars had already been moved out as of Tuesday afternoon, after being trapped for about two months. Phase 1 of the emergency stabilization, which involved installing roughly 1,500 vertical shoring posts, wrapped up August 14, per the same WMAR report, and Anne Arundel County says the owner's team planned to begin removing some vehicles the week of September 21 so Phase 2 shoring and lashing work could continue. Completing Phase 2 is expected to take another three to four weeks once vehicles are moved, the county says.
Insurance Roadblocks Compound the Wait
Wach has contacted her insurance company, but her insurer requires a 360-degree video of the vehicle before it will evaluate any claim, and Empire Towers cannot provide that video until power is restored inside the garage, CBS Baltimore reports. Without it, she may end up having her car totaled without ever being able to document its condition herself. Empire Towers has covered the cost of a rental vehicle for her in the meantime, but that coverage ends at the end of this month.
Wach isn't alone in running up against insurance limits. Victoria Vance, another vehicle owner, told WMAR-2 News that her paid-off 2025 Chevrolet Traverse has been stuck inside since July 9 and that her insurer had already exhausted the $200 available under her rental coverage. Empire Towers ownership has offered $3,000 to each individual with a vehicle trapped in the garage for temporary transportation, with no conditions attached, according to the same WMAR-2 News report. Wach told CBS Baltimore she feels very frustrated by the ordeal, which has stretched across the past two and a half months while she continues seeing her pediatric clients virtually.
No Firm Timeline, Even From Ownership
Empire Towers has been blunt about the uncertainty. We are unable to provide a timeline for removal of vehicles at this early stage of the shoring work, ownership told WMAR-2 News in an earlier report. The company had previously said it was highly unlikely that any vehicles would be safe to remove from the garage within the next 90 days, though it noted engineers' findings could change that outlook.
The disruption has rippled beyond car owners. Some businesses around Empire Towers have seen noticeable drops in foot traffic since the building was declared structurally compromised, according to Patch. Anne Arundel County has issued at least 30 grants worth $2,500 each to affected businesses, and its Empire Towers Disaster Recovery Grant program drew 75 applications, with 51 businesses ultimately deemed eligible for a combined $127,500 in awards, per WMAR-2 News. The Small Business Administration also approved an administrative declaration allowing Economic Injury Disaster Loans for those affected, according to WBAL-TV.
For now, Wach's car remains where it's been since July: parked near a collapsed slab, waiting on repairs, power, and paperwork that no one can yet promise a date for.
