AWARD OF EXCELLENCE: Longevity Category

Pinnacle Port Restoration

Panama City Beach, Florida

Submitted by Building Technology Consultants, Inc.

This project was submitted under the Longevity category of the competition and consists of a seven-building complex constructed in 1978. What started out as a routine condominium concrete restoration job was soon devastated by not one, but two hurricanes, turning a 1.2 million dollar project into a nine million dollar adventure.

The hurricanes uncovered surprises that threatened the structural integrity of each of the buildings and challenged the engineers to create solutions on the spot. Each time one crisis was resolved, a new one would appear as more debris was uncovered. The second hurricane produced a tidal surge that washed out the sand under the ground floor slabs and destroyed the first floor condominium units. This collapse revealed columns that had originally been designed to be only eight feet high, and were actually twelve and fifteen feet tall, making the structural engineers run calculations on the "as built" condition that offered no logical reason why the buildings were still standing. No sooner had the engineers and contractors gotten this problem under control, an accidental bump with a backhoe disclosed several of the columns that they had worked so hard to save had no reinforcing steel. They had simply been poured around shoring jacks. While this problem was being addressed, another crew came in to tell about the exposed and severely corroded reinforcing bars in the shear walls of the high rise.

This project that was completed in 1996 had the engineering and workmanship tested by another hurricane in 1998 with tidal surge and erosion equal to that experienced in Opal. The designs, the emergency solutions and the basic concrete repairs all performed without a fault. As of this date, seven years after substantial completion, only one small concrete spall has occurred in any of the repair areas.

Owner
Pinnacle Port Community Association
Panama City Beach, Florida

Project Engineer/
Designer
Building Technology Consultants, Inc.
Destin, Florida

Repair Contractor
Phoenix Coatings
Pensacola, Florida

Material Suppliers
ChemRex, Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia

Sika Corporation—
Eastern Region
Branford, Connecticut