 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Trouble at the tower
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- Residents at Bayfront Tower, the upscale downtown condominium with valet parking, gym, rooftop swimming pool and running track, can't agree on how to handle major repairs to their waterfront property. Money -- expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars -- is at the root of the dissension that has pitted some residents against the condominium board. It's an emotional issue, concedes Norm Dusseault, president of the Bayfront Tower condominium association and former St. Petersburg Times vice president and assistant general manager. "Are they discussing it heatedly in the elevator and the Yacht Club and wherever they go? Yes, they are," he said. Residents, however, have declined to be interviewed for the record about the dispute. Dusseault said not too much should be made of the disagreement. "We're going through kind of a reasonable, normal working out of our problems," he said. The problems at 1 Beach Drive SE surfaced more than a year ago. Moisture had seeped into the 29-story building and rusted steel studs that hold the outside walls in place. The building -- constructed in 1975 -- is structurally sound, an engineer hired by the condominium board says, but sections of its exterior walls, from the eighth to the 27th floor, will have to be replaced. "We have a serious repair problem to face," Dusseault said. "It involves a lot of money. . . . We think it's an insured loss, but it's a complex one. And we have engaged a structural engineer to design plans as to how we replace these wall sections and also do the attendant work," he said. The condominium board plans to ask its insurance company to pay for the work. To get an estimate of the total cost, it has proposed replacing the stud walls in a sampling of 16 of the building's 260 units. The board has told owners, recently assessed for the replacement of the building's sprinkler system, that the initial repairs, engineering supervision and contingency funds will total $725,000. "We had to go to the owners and propose to them that we should have an assessment to pay for the samplings," Dusseault said. The proposed assessment would be based on the square footage of each owner's unit, he said. "We also have presented alternative financing arrangements to ease the burden," the condominium president said. The size of the average Bayfront Tower unit is about 2,000 square feet. Before the current problems came to light, said Dusseault, a waterfront apartment probably would sell for about $450,000. Some who object to the board's proposal say it is expensive, imprecise and prolonged. "We think that we are doing it in a marvelously businesslike way. That is not being shared by everybody," Dusseault said. "Basically, a group of them said, maybe there are some other ways of doing it and would you delay the assessment. Our building committee is listening to other ideas and doing some study of them," Dusseault said. "In fact, the board itself engaged a review engineer to see if an alternative approach could be designed and that is being considered by the building committee. There has been from some residents the suggestion of another consultant who is working on another approach. The condo association has also approached him." So far, one of the 16 units, in which the wall was sagging, has been repaired. The board also is using a vacant apartment as sort of a show-and-tell for residents. The drywall has been removed to see the problems better. Dusseault, who became president when no one else wanted the position, said condominium officials are simply trying to do their jobs. "The condo association has a fiduciary responsibility to repair the building," he said. "If you own a house and the roof leaks, you can choose whether to fix it or put a pail under it. In a condominium, the board has a legal responsibility to fix and repair and upkeep the property. . . . The criticism hurts when you're just trying to help your neighbors." Dusseault said he is unsure when a decision will be made about how to proceed. "I would hope that would be done before the end of the year."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks |
