Officials identify construction worker who fell to his death at South End site

The construction worker who fell to his death from an office balcony in Charlotte’s South End neighborhood was from Tampa, Fla.

James Dale Leece, 54, was on a ladder on a fifth-floor balcony at 1616 Camden Road when he fell, according to a preliminary report from the N.C. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Division. The building is under construction.

Leece was found in front of the building, which Beacon Properties is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of this year. Clothes and a piece of rope lay nearby.

Construction started last October. The building is at Camden Road and West Kingston Avenue, next to Price’s Chicken Coop.

Later Sunday morning, an unidentified man was seen moving a ladder on the balcony.

Work appeared to be suspended at the property on Sunday afternoon following the fall. Yellow tape with the words “Fire Line Do Not Cross” was draped across one of the entrances.

The nearly complete building is 76,000 square feet wrapped around a parking deck. When completed, it will include a fitness center and about 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Accounting firm BGW plans to take 12,000 square feet on the top floor.

In July, a man who worked for a siding contractor fell 14 feet to his death while working on a house in Ballantyne.

This story was originally published October 19, 2015 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Officials identify construction worker who fell to his death at South End site."