Balcony collapses at N.J. motel

John Curran

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 | 9:26 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- A second-story balcony collapsed at a motel on the casino strip early Monday, raining chunks of broken concrete down on a car and stranding two people who had to be rescued by firefighters using a ladder.

No injuries were reported.

Nobody was on -- or under -- the 3-by-50-foot section of exterior walkway at the Ascot Motel when it suddenly gave way about 6:15 a.m.

"It's lucky it happened when it happened, early in the morning," said Deputy Fire Chief Vincent Granese. "It could've been a very tragic incident."

"It made a big noise," said motel guest Steve Takeuchi, 64, of Spring Valley, N.Y., whose parked 2004 Nissan Altima was damaged by the falling debris. "It was a big, big noise. I thought it was a bomb."

Two guests, whose rooms were left inaccessible by the collapse of the 10-foot high balcony in front of their doors, were safely rescued by firefighters. The guests' names were not released.

Fifty-three of the 80-unit motel's rooms were occupied at the time, and firefighters went door to door to evacuate guests from their $39-a-night accommodations. The four-story building was declared an unsafe structure and closed until further notice.

The collapse of the steel-and-concrete balcony revealed extensive corrosion of the metal I-beams that support the balconies on the horseshoe-shaped structure, which was built in the 1950s.

"All the balcony areas are the same type of construction engineering. If one had a collapse, it's a sign other areas might be damaged," Granese said.

Stephen Frame, the city's chief construction official, said he did not know the last time the building had been inspected. The city does construction inspections -- while buildings are being built -- but not maintenance inspections, he said.

"There's no ongoing program for inspections of existing structures -- not yet," said Frame. "This should be a wake-up call to building owners."

The owners of the building could not be reached for comment. Employees at the front desk declined repeated interview requests.

Fire officials said there was no way to know beforehand that the balcony was in danger of buckling. Nothing triggered it, they said.

"It just went by itself," said fire department Battalion Chief John Johnson.

The motel, which is located about a block from the Boardwalk and directly across the street from the Tropicana Casino and Resort, was in the news recently when a suspect in a string of fatal jewelry store robberies in New York and Connecticut was found hiding there with his girlfriend.