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‘It sounded like an airplane crash’

Residents displaced after Shore Road balconies crumble

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Long Beach firefighters and police rushed to 233 Shore Road on Tuesday morning after approximately five balconies collapsed at the Sunlit Terrace Apartments between Long Beach and Monroe boulevards.

The incident was reported at 7:37 a.m. and the Long Beach Police Department arrived on the scene within two minutes, according to City Manager Jack Schnirman. A section of Shore Road was closed as firefighters and other emergency responders secured the area, including members of the Nassau County Office of Emergency Management and the American Red Cross, who aided residents in a city bus.

Officials said no injuries were reported and the cause of collapse was most likely attributed to worn metal frames within the balcony that were unable to support the heavy concrete floors.

“It sounded like an airplane crash,” said Diane Schaeffer, a two-year resident of the building who lives in an adjacent apartment and was asleep at the time of the collapse. “It’s really sad and scary because I had my [friend’s] son on my balcony, a 7-year-old boy, yesterday, and God forbid it would have happened yesterday afternoon.”

Officials said that work was being done on the building, which was built in 1949, prior to the collapse. The owner of the building had obtained a permit for a Long Beach licensed contractor to do “minor repointing” on the 48-unit, three-story building’s for about a week leading up to the collapse, said Richard Schuh, the city’s zoning inspector, which involved brickwork at the entrance, he said. Schuh added that the owner and contractor had said the balconies were going to be looked at following that project.

Building inspectors on the scene deemed the building unsafe and it was closed, displacing 37 families, Schnirman said. The city’s building department helped the owner and contractor negotiate to begin removal of the damaged balconies Tuesday afternoon, Schuh said, and residents were allowed back into their residences to retrieve personal necessities that night. Shore Road was opened back up at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, he added.

Schuh told the Herald that the gas in the building was turned off as a precautionary measure, and though the hazards were removed Tuesday, the gas must be turned back on before tenants can return to their homes. Officials said that residents were allowed to return late Wednesday afternoon. Schuh added that the rest of the debris must also be collected, and parts of the damaged apartments must be boarded up.

“I’m doing my best to have this done by tonight,” Schuh said before the Herald went to press Wednesday. “That is my goal…the only hold up on this would be the gas. It’s very easy to turn off gas from a building built in 1949, sometimes it’s not so easy to turn it back on.”

Lauren Beattie, who moved into the building three years ago, said she and other residents have complained to the owner, Carmine Tepedino, about infrastructure-related issues for years.

Tepedino told Newsday that he first learned of the complaints two weeks ago and workers began to fix the balcony. He added that when he became aware of the situation, residents were urged not to go on the balconies and, after speaking with workers Monday night, he felt the building was safe.

Beattie, who was at work during the incident, said she had complained to the owner late last week of one of the building’s third floor balcony walls “concaving,” and a company was brought in to work on the building following the complaint, she added.

“We’re all grateful we’re alive … and it’s sad, but unfortunately this was going on for awhile and it was starting to look really bad on Friday,” she said.

City officials told the Herald there were no previous violations on the building, and no complaints were made to the city before Tuesday’s incident, which was the second of its kind on Shore Road in the past few years.

In 2013, a second-floor balcony of an apartment building down the street — at 271 Shore Road — collapsed, leaving five injured. The cement balcony had iron railings, and was occupied by four adults, a 9-year-old and a family dog when it gave way, falling onto an empty first-floor deck. None of the injuries were serious, and bystanders cheered when the dog was safely pulled out of the rubble.

Schuh said authorities have provided hotel vouchers to some displaced tenants, and that Tepedino is looking into building brand new balconies in the future.

“He said he wants to put [the balconies] back,” Schuh said, “and he’s got a new steel guy there and they’re looking to draw plans and put these back.”