Work underway at the now shuttered SeaPort Marina Hotel has some worried crews are starting to demolish the historic structure although permits for such work have not yet been issued by the city.

Images taken earlier this week show swaths of roofing removed, piles of debris and large construction equipment parked adjacent to the 53-year-old marina-side hotel. The business closed its doors in February in anticipation of a new 245,500-square-foot retail complex called 2nd + PCH.

Warren Blesofsky, a resident who often opposes development projects on environmental grounds, appeared at a Planning Commission meeting on Thursday and asked city staff to put a stop to what he said looked like demolition work at the site, located at 6400 E. Pacific Coast Highway.

“I went by there and workers were clearly tearing off the roof of the motel section of the building,” he said. “I’m very concerned. It’s a slippery slope of just taking down an unsafe roof, and then before you know it, the historic elements disappear.”

Formerly called the Edgewater Inn, the Mid-Century Modern structure was built in the early 1960s and designed by Roy Sealey, a prominent African-American architect. The Los Angeles Conservancy calls it one of the few surviving examples of a 1960s Googie style hotel.

Because the project proposed for the site is currently undergoing environmental review, demolition and building permits have not been issued, according to Kevin Lee, spokesman for the Development Services Department.

According to the city building code, demolish means “to remove or modify more than 50 percent of the exterior walls of an existing building or structure, as measured by the linear length of the walls.”

Lee said he couldn’t tell from the images whether demolition was actually underway. Officials are awaiting a report from a building inspector sent to the site this week, he said.

The contractor has the ability to remove furnishings from the property and asbestos in the ceilings, activity, he said, that doesn’t require a permit from the city.

Alex Cherin, spokesman for the 2nd + PCH project, said the activity at the site was related to asbestos abatement, not demolition.

“That activity is completely permissible and the city has obviously signed off on that while we are waiting for the entitlement process,” he said. Patrick Chandler, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said air quality inspectors were out at the site recently, and the agency was informed that there would be asbestos abatement and demolition at the site.

“We did receive a notice from the contractor of what they intended to do, so they are in compliance with what we need,” he said.

Fred Bruning, president of CenterCal Properties, an El Segundo firm involved in a joint venture with the family that owns the property, said the Long Beach Fire Department was using the vacant building for some training exercises, but he said there was no demolition underway.

The SeaPort Marina Hotel, where the Miami Dolphins stayed before winning Super Bowl VII in 1973, sits near of the crossing of Pacific Coast Highway and Second Street, near the city’s border with Seal Beach. The hotel itself is no longer one of Long Beach’s premier hospitality venues, but the intersection is essentially a gateway to Long Beach.

Plans to tear down the building and redevelop the site with a “cornerstone” project have been underway for years. In 2011, the City Council denied a proposal to build 12-story residential condominium tower and 100-room hotel, sending developers back to the drawing board.

Plans for a new project were revealed in November.

Proposed for the expansive waterfront property is a high-end retail complex with marina-facing restaurants on the second level. Company executives said this week that Whole Foods has agreed to be the anchor tenant, relocating from the adjacent shopping center, and some 40 more tenants are interested in leasing space.

An environmental impact report analyzing the proposed project is currently out for public review. Significant impacts identified including those on air quality during construction and traffic at one of the most congested intersections in Long Beach.

Bruning said the firm hopes to pull building permits by September, with construction expected to take around 18 months.