The W Hotel in Austin, Texas, has closed until further notice after glass fell again Tuesday from the south side of the building, according to hotel officials.
It was the third time glass has fallen from the 37-story hotel in the last two weeks, and follows an incident at the W Hotel in Midtown Atlanta in May where two women fell through glass window panels from the 10th floor while engaging in horseplay.
Local model LaShawna Threatt, 30, was killed in the incident, and her friend Ciara Williams, 28, remains in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital.
In Austin, panels rained down Tuesday from the 37-story building; on Monday afternoon, three glass panels plunged more than 20 stories to the street below. On June 10, a pair of panels fell into the hotel's pool area, according to the American-Statesman newspaper.
Austin W Hotel officials issued a statement Wednesday about the glass and the hotel shutdown.
"Today as you know, another glass balcony panel at the W Austin building shattered in place and fell, breaking two panels directly below, and sending glass into the pool area, which was closed," read the statement from Beau Armstrong, CEO of developer Stratus Properties. "The entire team here at the W couldn’t be more devastated that this has occurred, but unfortunately after consulting with numerous experts we still do not know why this has happened."
The hotel, which has been opened seven months, had announced that it will replace nearly 1,000 glass panels on the $300 million high-rise’s balconies, according to the American-Statesman.
W Hotel officials in Atlanta have said that the incidents were "quite different" and "totally unrelated."
"At the W Austin, a panel of glass broke on balcony railings on two unoccupied condo residences located above the hotel," according to a statement after the June 10 incident in Austin. "As such, these are two completely separate incidents, at two very different types of buildings and locations (balcony railing versus window). Teams of experts are currently investigating each event independently."
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