The roof of a former furniture store on Atlantic Avenue collapsed Saturday afternoon, shutting down traffic in both directions for hours as firefighters worked to stabilize the now-vacant building.
Rain water that had accumulated in the structure over years deteriorated the ceiling and floor, leading to a cave-in Saturday, said Scott Evans, Atlantic City’s deputy fire chief.
At the scene, the top wall was leaning onto the sidewalk and bricks littered the ground, Evans said. The building, at 915 Atlantic Ave., was empty at the time of the incident and is currently listed for sale with Keller Williams Realty in Ocean City. It does not appear on the city’s 2015 abandoned properties list, but a number of boarded-up structure adjacent to it do.
“It collapsed due to what we suspect was a lack of maintenance. Rain water got trapped in the building and weakened the structure,” Evans said.