A 45-foot section of a historic Rehoboth Beach hotel’s façade fell onto the boardwalk, but the city and hotel said the damage is cosmetic.
No one was injured when the chunk of the Henlopen Hotel's façade fell on July 4, news outlets report.
Engineers determined that the building's structural integrity is sound, but after the Florida building collapse and this incident Rehoboth Beach City manager Sharon Lynn said they will take another look at a half-dozen buildings. Officials will also consider whether the code needs to be stricter, Lynn said.
Rehoboth requires annual building inspections, she said, but city code doesn’t require that reports be submitted to the city.
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The hotel’s structural engineer verified that the damage at the eight-story building built in the 1970s was “purely cosmetic,” hotel Manager Justin Mogavero wrote in a statement. He described the piece that fell as a cosmetic soffit that covered metal framework and wiring between the first and second floor. The building’s other soffits have been evaluated and found to be safe, Mogavero said.
The ocean-facing façade at the Stuart Kingston Gallery next door fell off in 2018, owner Mauria Stein said. The cause was never determined.
