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Rusty steel to force repairs to condo
By COLLINS CONNER, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- From their prime location at the eastern edge of downtown, Bayfront Tower residents have savored spectacular views of Tampa Bay for 27 years. But, inside their walls, blocked from their view, was another water scene: Over time, moisture had seeped into their 29-story condominium and rusted some steel studs holding the outside walls in place. To date, consultants have performed preliminary tests in 16 of the building's condos; they found rusted steel in all of them. Some had damage severe enough "so that any wind or suction on that wall could potentially pull the wall away," engineer Roy Kerns told the condo board in April, according to the minutes of the meeting. Now, the residents face daunting repairs -- sections of all four of the building's exterior walls, from the eighth floor to the 27th, will have to be replaced. The seven lower floors and two top floors aren't affected, said Nicholas Lang, the attorney for the condominium association.
Lang said the repair costs haven't been estimated, nor has it been determined whether the residents will bear some of that cost. Repair costs vary dramatically, depending on the extent of the damage and the number of units affected; similar repairs at two other Pinellas condos cost $3.2-million and $12.5-million. Bayfront officials will ask the building's insurers to pay for repairs. Such negotiations take months, if not years, to resolve, which potentially can affect condo sales. In the past year, more than a dozen Bayfront Tower units were sold at prices ranging from $113,000 to $289,000. At least a half-dozen units are on the market, priced at up to $489,000. Kerns, the engineer, told the board that Bayfront Tower won't collapse; it is structurally sound, with only the exterior walls needing repair. At that, since the windows and support columns aren't affected, the damaged area encompasses just "10 to 20 percent of the total perimeter of the exterior walls," he told the board. Some units have as little as 5 feet of wall section to replace; others must replace the entire wall. But, he told the board, the damaged walls must be replaced "in order to maintain the integrity of the building according to code." Bayfront Tower residents declined to comment on the problem, which was discovered last summer when wood flooring was being installed in one of the condos. The condo association has hired Kerns, an appraiser and a civil trial attorney to design a fix, establish a likely cost and seek reimbursement from the building's insurers. Bayfront's problem isn't unique. The tower's stucco-over-steel framing was used on many buildings in the area; it is easy to work with and less expensive than concrete. Rain sometimes penetrates the wall finish, though it's supposed to be waterproof. In 1992, the 13-story Pierce 100 condominium in Clearwater replaced its exterior walls at a cost of $3.2-million because of a similar problem, according to the Web site of the architects who oversaw the repairs. Clearwater officials had declared the building unsafe in 1989 after several "600-pound asbestos-cement panels fell from the facade," Klar & Klar Architects said on its Web site. Three Palms Pointe, a 13-story condominium on St. Pete Beach, discovered "a problem almost exactly the same as Bayfront Tower" several years ago, the Bayfront board was told by attorney William F. "Chip" Merlin last April. Merlin said Three Palms sought $12.5-million from its insurers to repair its two buildings. After arbitration, the insurance company agreed to pay $11.3-million. Lang said it was his understanding that Three Palms examined a dozen units, found rusting steel in all of them, repaired those units and extrapolated the repair costs to cover the entire building. The insurance claim, based on the extrapolated costs, was recently settled after several years of negotiation. Repairs will begin soon. Lang said Bayfront is following the same procedure. The 16 units in Bayfront's sampling will be repaired, with the costs of those repairs extrapolated to cover the building's 260 units, Lang said. The Bayfront consultants told board members in April that they couldn't estimate how long repairs would take. But, at Three Palms, the sample units were repaired in six to seven months, the consultants told the Bayfront board. The work at Bayfront "would have to be done from both the inside and outside (of) the units," Kerns told the board. Norm Dusseault, former St. Petersburg Times vice president and assistant general manager, is president of the building's condominium association. Dusseault was on vacation last week, according to another board officer, and could not be reached for comment.
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