J. Michael Shoes on Marshall Street will remain closed for an indefinite period of time after the basement flooded eight to nine feet deep on Friday due to a water main break that closed the street down.

The water operations office of Syracuse’s Department of Water received a phone call at 7:30 a.m. when a pipe broke on J. Michael’s fire service system, said Paul Travato, assistant superintendent of water operations.

Syracuse’s Department of Engineering, National Grid, the Department of Public Works, the Department of Water and the fire department were all on site.

A water main could break due to old pipes that have not been replaced, Travato said. About 15 years ago, the water main on Marshall Street was renewed, Travato said, and businesses had the option to put in new pipes.

Marshall Street was originally closed off to traffic and is now open, but vehicles cannot park on the street. The sidewalk in front of J. Michael was also closed due to worries about its stability, said Pete O’Connor, commissioner of the Department of Public Works.

Water reached the top of the stairs and caused the wall to collapse in J. Michael’s basement. National Grid turned the power off so that the Syracuse Fire Department could pump the water out without injuring anyone, Travato said. The water was pumped out by 11:30 a.m.

‘It looks pretty bad, and the foundation caved in,’ Travato said. ‘It caused a lot of damage.’

Jim Hicks, the manager of J. Michael, received a phone call Friday morning from the Syracuse Police Department about the water problem and arrived at the store at 9 a.m. to look into the problem. With no foundation after the flood, Hicks said officials did not know how the building was still standing Friday.

The flooding damaged inventory, including Longchamp bags, Ugg boots and all of the North Face merchandise stored in the basement, which is half the size of the selling floor. Every individual item downstairs would have sold in the store for more than $100, Hicks said.

The incident happened just before the Syracuse University men’s basketball team played Villanova University, a weekend that would have seen a lot of sales, Hicks said. He did not have an estimate on how much the store was losing.

‘It’s like a bad dream,’ Hicks said. ‘You get all excited having a big weekend, and then this happens.’

Woodford Bros., which is made up of structural construction specialists, reinforced the joist underneath the store on Sunday by installing jacks and posts to hold up the floor, said John Vavalo, the owner of J. Michael. Before a decision can be made about what to do next, the basement has to be cleaned and a new foundation wall needs to be built, he said.

Engineers will be visiting the store Monday to assess what to do next, he said.

J. Michael was not the only store affected. Heating is turned off in J. Michael and Halo Tattoo, Vavalo said. An assistant manager at Starbucks announced the coffee shop had to close down at 12:53 p.m. Friday. The water had been shut off for about 20 minutes because of the water main break. The store received no damage, but it will remain closed until the water is turned back on. The water was still off as of Sunday night.

Vavalo estimates that the store will be closed for at least a month, he said.

‘It’s so cold out, too, people need things,’ Vavalo said. ‘I feel bad for them.’

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A previous version of this article appeared online at dailyorange.com on Jan. 21.

Published on January 23, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Laurence: [email protected] | @lgleveille