UNITED STATES PUBLIC ADJUSTERS
Officials Work to Allay Fears of Debris Falling from Hurricane-Blasted Condo
By Kevin Deutsch
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
WEST PALM BEACH — Just looking up at the hurricane-ravaged 1515 Tower was enough to cause some nearby condo-dwellers to lose sleep.
If a hurricane struck this year, they wondered, what would keep debris from hurtling toward their condos and cars like it did during the storms of 2004? A city official and engineers working for new owners of the tower at 1515 S. Flagler Drive alleviated some neighbors’ fears Monday, in announcing plans for a project to secure the battered structure.
The project will cost an estimated $600,000 and take four to six weeks to complete. Preliminary work could begin as early as this week, according to Principle Design & Development, the engineering group working on the project.
The 1515 tower, pummeled by back-to-back hurricanes in 2004 and later deemed unsafe, will be coated with a binding foam to keep the building solid and stop debris from breaking off. Plywood will cover certain areas. Parts of the building that could come off in a storm will be removed.
The city issued a permit for the plan on Friday. “I assure you that the building is going to meet minimum code requirements,” said Neil Melick, director of the city’s construction services department.
Bobby Albre, who lives in the Rapallo North condominiums near the 1515 tower, said debris from the tower blew off during the hurricanes of 2004, striking cars parked in her neighborhood.
“We were concerned about all the debris that could be flying around in high winds,” said Albre, one of more than 100 people who attended Monday’s meeting at the Unity of the Palm Beaches church. “I think they have it under control.”
Monday marked the latest turn in the saga of the once-regal, condominium ravaged by hurricanes in 2004.
A promised $55 million sale collapsed last summer. A month later, residents were forced to settle a $20 million lawsuit against QBE Insurance for $2.25 million.
In January, Stillwater Capital Partners purchased the 30-story waterfront tower. The project engineers said Monday the ownership group is called Trinity 1515, LLC.
Melick said the owners had not decided whether they will tear down the tower and build a new structure, or leave it standing and renovate. A new building would be capped at four stories and 64 units, unless a waiver is granted. A waiver could add 20 stories.
In a work session with city commissioners on Monday, Mayor Lois Frankel proposed allowing a replacement building of the same size, although that’s not what current zoning allows. That way, she said, the building would be more likely to come down more quickly, avoiding what she called “machinations” to save a portion of the building and keep the building the size it is now.
Commissioners were leery of such an allowance, wondering whether that would set a bad precedent for other buildings.