REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - The City of Rehoboth Beach has granted an extension for demolition work at the site of the new hotel One Rehoboth on Baltimore Avenue, allowing crews to continue tearing down the former Grotto Pizza and Sirocco Motel through June 13.
Typically, the city enforces a seasonal moratorium on construction activity between May 15 and Sept. 15, but an exception was made due to safety concerns at the site.
“It doesn’t appear to us that the building in its current condition can remain standing safely through the summer season. For this reason, Mayor Mills and I have granted permission for the developer to continue working as safely and expeditiously as possible.” said City Manager Taylour Tedder.
Demolition will be allowed on weekdays, with the exception of Saturday, May 31. No work will take place over Memorial Day weekend from May 22 to May 26. Work hours are limited to 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Mark Blattel at the Rehoboth Toy and Kite Company said the construction, "- is going to hurt businesses on the boardwalk, especially on the north end."
Meanwhile, Andrew Tylecki lives in Rehoboth Beach and said it will backup the boardwalk traffic but overall is not a concern.
"It might slow down the people walking and people watching it, other than that, I don't think it's a problem." said Tylecki.
Developer Onix Group began demolition last month at the corner of Rehoboth and Baltimore avenues. Once the front beach store attached to the Sirocco Motel was removed, it revealed that the structure's stability had been compromised, according to the city.
Originally, only the top story of the Sirocco Motel was to be dismantled by hand, but unstable conditions forced a change in plans. Demolition activities temporarily paused to allow crews to shore up the building before carefully taking down the rest of the structure. That hand demolition process is expected to take approximately four weeks.
