Crab House, Two Mile won’t open ’til at least ’09 season
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LOWER TOWNSHIP – The number seven is usually considered lucky,
especially if you happen to pull a slot-machine handle and three of them
line up next to each other. But 7/7/07, or July 7, 2007, will never be
considered a lucky evening for Jim Salasin and his Big Fish Restaurant
Group, owners of the Crab House on Ocean Drive between Cape May and
Wildwood Crest.
At about 7:30 that July evening, close to 900 people were enjoying or
waiting to enjoy their meals. Whacks from wooden hammers cracking open
steamed hard-shell crabs could be heard above the din of conversation
and laughter as the sun began to set on the post-Fourth of July
celebration at the height of summer.
Sounds like loud pops ripped through the dining room, and patrons
screamed. One employee grabbed a phone and dialed 911, reporting
gunshots had been fired. Within seconds a large portion of the concrete
slab floor had given way.
Some diners were shaken off their chairs, and plates of food crashed to
the floor. One kitchen employee became trapped inside a refrigerated
walk-in closet whose door locked shut as the building shook.
Witnesses said the scene inside was pandemonium as people tried to
escape. Fear that the expansive second floor deck would collapse made
matters worse.
Miraculously, only nine people were sent to the hospital, where they
were treated and released. Police and emergency crews quickly restored
order and safely evacuated the restaurant. The incident made national
news.
In the end, it was found that steel cables used to reinforce the
concrete flooring had eroded over the 35 years of the restaurant, which
sits on pilings above wetlands and back-bay saltwater.
“It was the combination of moisture, saltwater, damp air and 35 years of
use that caused the cable to decay and they snapped,” said Salasin this
week from his home in Key West, Fla.
The floor dropped four feet onto a bulkhead, according to a county
construction official. The Crab House closed for the season, and its
sister venue, Two Mile Landing, was closed for fear that it too was
structurally compromised. The Two Mile was cleared by engineers as safe
to reopen, but a second opinion sought by Salasin reversed that
decision, and it too closed for the season.
“We spent a lot of money for an engineering firm to take a look at it,
and they told us it would be okay to open. But after we got a second
opinion, we decided we wanted to be safe, not sorry,” he said.
“And we were lucky with the Crab House that no one was seriously hurt.
There wasn’t a single stitch and not a broken bone.”
The site has been relatively quiet since the incident, as the owners try
to decide what to do with their property.
“We won’t be open this summer, but we expect to open restaurants in
’09,” Salasin said.
Whether they are brand new buildings or rebuilt buildings is part of the
decision-making process that is ongoing, but Salasin said when/if they
are reopened, they will be very similar to the Two Mile Landing and Crab
House structures.
“They were very successful restaurants, so why change? It was a typical
seafood house and the Crab House was definitely a big attraction for
tourists and residents and we’re not going to change that.
“It’ll be a very similar footprint, the same square footage but maybe
moved back off the water a little bit…we don’t know yet,” he said.
“We’ll have restaurants; just not this year, hopefully they’ll be ready
by ’09 -- and there’s other considerations that have to be negotiated
before we think that through.”
He declined to discuss what those negotiations might entail.
Rob Seitzinger can be e-mailed
at seitz [at] catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by
calling 624-8900, ext. 250.
Check out his Cape Cuisine food blog
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