A portion of the Boulevard Motel, a business shut down by the city two months ago because of code violations, was destroyed by fire early Wednesday.

No one was injured, said Capt. Don Tschida of the Fayetteville Fire Department.

"Nobody should have been staying here," he said. "They had a few (fence) barriers up."

But according to Frank Edge, the owner of the Tropical Motel across the roadway from the Boulevard Motel, homeless people were still living on the premises.

On Dec. 12, the city cut power to the property because of code violations, and residents scrambled to find another place to live. About 15 former Boulevard Motel residents relocated to the Tropical, a Tropical employee said.

"Since the city closed it down, some people were going in and out,'' he said. "I think when you find a bunch of homeless people, they're going to get heat some way or another. It looks suspicious. I don't know that nobody deliberately set it on fire."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

"It's going to take a while," Fayetteville firefighter Chris McCullen said Wednesday morning.

Part of Bragg Boulevard was temporarily closed due to the location of the hydrant needed to fight the fire. The two lanes were reopened a little after 8 a.m.

Cumberland County tax records list Dorothy Fisher and James Smith of Fayetteville as the property owners. Neither could be reached for comment.

The motel had mobile homes set up in a horseshoe-like arrangement around the concrete-and-wooden original structure, which sits about 50 to 75 feet from the busy boulevard. The fire did not reach those units, Tschida said.

In addition to the extensive fire damage on the second floor of the office building, the downstairs suffered damage from the water used to extinguish the blaze, he said.

Overall, the motel had more than 30 rooms.

Firefighters received multiple reports of a fire at the motel at 4309 Bragg Boulevard at 5:25 a.m., a news release said. Firefighters reported heavy fire showing from the second floor when they arrived and additional units were requested, the release said.

"The building is going to be a total loss," Tschida said.

The motel's taxable value was listed at $141,400 in 2018, according to the county's Tax Collection Division.

John West, who is 70 and lives nearby on Johnson Street, said he called 911 when he saw the fire around 5 a.m. He was on a bicycle and approaching the motel when he noticed the fire.

"I looked up and saw a blaze," he said after being interviewed by Fayetteville police. "Just a blaze coming from the window. I knew it was a flame, though. Smoke started developing."

West said he didn't see anyone on the premises or anything unusual. "Because it was dark," he said. "Early morning, there's no light. I didn't hear nothing. I knew the place was shut down. I got suspicious."

West said he lived in the motel for a time after retiring from the Army in 1984.

Police also interviewed three women who walked across the boulevard with another person from the area of the Tropical Motel. They declined to speak to a reporter.

The late Willie Tillman established the motel around 1967 or early 1968, said Edge, the owner of the Tropical Motel. Before that, the building tenant included the first business in Fayetteville to sell soft-serve ice cream.

Jerry Newton, the head of the city’s development services, said Dec. 12 that the city had no choice but to shut off the power to the motel because the electrical system posed an imminent threat to residents. Newton also said there was no permit issued to the electrical contractor to do the repairs.

Sherry Tillman, the motel manager, said they spent $4,000 as a down payment to the contractor to start the electrical work.

A phone message left with Tillman on Wednesday evening was not immediately returned.

Residents had been notified Dec. 7 by the city that it was disconnecting the power on Dec. 11 after the effective time for the lease termination had passed.

Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at mfutch@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3529.