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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBuilding Assessment Letter & Structural Condition ReportARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING ASTORINO RIOR DESIGN NTE DESIGN/BUILD August 14, 2008 Via Email and FedEx City of Miami Department of Capital Improvement 444 S.W. 2nd Avenue, 8th Floor Miami, Florida 33130 Attn: Mr. Ola Aluko, Director RE: East Coast Fisheries Building Assessment Report Astorino Project No. F008466.00 Dear Ola: At the request of the City of Miami (City), L. D. Astorino and our consultant Bliss and Nyitray (BNI) have conducted a visual observation of the existing East Coast Fisheries Building located at 40 S.W. North River Drive. The purpose of the investigation is to provide the City with the required information to evaluate the feasibility of the existing structure for reuse and to document the extent of the facilities deterioration since its abandonment. Upon review of the existing facility with our consultant, it was found that the existing building was in a grave state of deterioration and major components of the building's support structure and building envelope are none existent. The attached report by BNI documents the condition of the existing structure and provides the City with a summary of the findings. Astorino has reviewed the attached information provided by BNI and concurs with the report and its findings. The existing structure, from the visual observation preformed, appears to have deteriorated past the point where repair of the structure seems possible and would most likely be cost prohibitive to repair or replace the damaged building structural systems. 1691 Michigan Avenue Suite 405 Miami Florida 33139 T E 1 305 781 1900 E A X 305 397 1965 AA26000853 1 8 2 6 0 0 0 6 6 7 25917 A 1 I, A� W W 'W astorino. com Mr. Ola Alnico, Director City of Miami, Department of Capital Improvement East Coast Fisheries Building Assessment Report August 14, 2008 Page 2 of 2 It should also be noted that the materials that make up the building envelope (clay masonry blocks) are a very brittle material and do not allow for the attachment of supporting members and windows. With the requirements of the building codes today and the condition of the existing facility it is not feasible to consider the building for reuse. Sin James G. Centanni, r., AIA Astorino Senior Vice President/Principal cc: Marcel Douge, Sr. Project Manager, City of Miami Stephen Sheffield, Bliss & Nyitray Ruben Blanco, File, Astorino Enclosure: Bliss & Nyitray East Coast Building Assessment Report buildingstrength RI ISS h FAYITRA Y. Inc STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS Structural Condition Assessment of the East Coast Fisheries Building 40 SW North River Drive Miami, Florida BNI Project No. 08M26 Prepared by: Bliss & Nyitray, Inc. Structural Engineers 800 Douglas Road Suite 300 Coral Gables, Florida 33134 Tel. 305.442.7086 Fax. 305.442.7092 www.BNlengineers.com CA 674 Stephen G. Sheffield, P.E. Florida P.E. Registration No. 52765 August 13, 2008 800 Douglas Road, Suite 300 I Coral Gables, Florida 33134 I PHONE 305-442-7086 FAX 305-442-7092 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando buildingstrength Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Purpose 1 1.2 Scope of Work 1 1.3 Documents used in review 2 1.4 History of Structure 2 2 Description of Structure 2 3 Field Observations 3.1 First Floor 3 3.2 Second & Third Floor 4 3.3 Fourth Floor 4 3.4 Roof 5 3.5 Exterior Beam and Column Frames 5 3.6 Exterior Walls 5 3.7 Stairs 6 4 Conclusions 6 5 Recommendations 7 6 Disclaimer 8 7 Photographs 9 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando • buildingstrength 1 INTRODUCTION The East Coast Fisheries building is an 82-year old building located on the Miami River that has been abandoned for the past 8 years. The building, under private ownership, is located at 40 SW North River Drive, Miami, Florida. The City of Miami has asked for a structural condition assessment to be used in the determination of the building's future use. The City of Miami has engaged Astorino along with Bliss & Nyitray, Inc. (BNI) to perform the condition assessment. Astorino is the prime consultant to the City. 1.1 Purpose The purpose of the condition assessment is to determine the current condition of the structural components of the building and the feasibility of the building's restoration. 1.2 Scope of Work Our scope of work includes performing a structural condition assessment of the present condition of the building by visual observations, and to provide a written assessment report summarizing our findings. We will provide an opinion on the feasibility of the structural restoration of the building. Our assessment is based on a review of available record documents, performing on - site visual observations to determine the present condition, and to identify visible deterioration of the structural frame. The assessment does not include a structural analysis, an evaluation for compliance with building codes, materials testing, destructive exploratory investigations, geotechnical investigations or repair cost estimates. www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 1 of 34 buildingstrength 1.3 Documents used in review The City of Miami did not have any Record Drawings available for use in the condition assessment. A previous structural condition assessment was conducted for the property owner in 2003, and that report was provided to BNI by the City. General history of the building was found in a report by the City of Miami Preservation Officer to the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board, which was found on the Board's web site. 1.4 History of Structure The building was constructed in 1926 during the period when the commercial fishing industry thrived along the Miami River in the 1920's and 1930's. The building was known as Miller's Fish Market when it was built. In 1933, East Coast Fisheries, Inc. moved into the building and expanded it into a fish market and later into a restaurant in the 1970's. During the year 2000, the business closed and the building has been abandoned for the past 8 years. The building is designated as a historical landmark in the City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board's web site (www.historicpreservationmiami. com). 2 DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURE The building is a 4-story structure that is trapezoidal -shape in plan (Photo 1). Situated on the Miami River, the west wall forms the seawall along the river (Photo 2). All of the exterior walls have window openings except the south wall. All of the windows have been removed and the building is open to the exterior, except for the 1st floor windows which have been boarded up with plywood. The east and north walls have 2-story arched windows. There are stairs located in the SE and NW corners of the building. www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 2 of 34 • buildingstrength The structure is a reinforced concrete beam and column frame with 8" thick, infill, clay masonry walls that are stucco finished on the exterior face. The interior face is exposed masonry. The walls appear to be non -load bearing and not reinforced. The type of foundation is unknown. The 1st floor is a concrete slab supported by grade or grade beams. The 2nd floor does not occupy the full foot print of the building and is set back from the north wall, creating a 2-story space (Photo 3). The 2nd floor is framed with a 2-1/2" thick concrete slab supported by 8-1/2" deep reinforced concrete joists spaced at 23" centers. The joists are supported by concrete beams at both the interior and exterior walls. The 31.d floor occupies the full foot print of the building and is framed with concrete joists in the same manner as the 2nd floor. The 4th floor is framed in wood and half of the floor framing has been removed (Photo 25, 26). The remaining floor area is framed with 2x12 joists at 16" on center and the floor sheathing has also been removed. The floor joists are supported by the concrete beams at the exterior walls and by steel wide flange beams or built-up wood girders in the interior. The roof is framed in wood consisting of 2x rafters supported by wood trusses and by the exterior walls. The stair in the NW corner of the building is constructed using reinforced concrete up to the 4th floor, while the stair in the SE corner is reinforced concrete up to the 3rd floor and then framed in wood above the 3rd level. 3 FIELD OBSERVATIONS 3.1 First Floor The slab on grade has been chipped out and removed around one of the interior circular columns from a previous exploratory investigation (Photo 7). The excavation is now filled with garbage and other debris, obscuring the structure from view. www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 3 of 34 buildingstrength 3.2 Second and Third Floor The ceiling finishes were previously removed, which made the bottom of the concrete slab and joist visible. There is severe deterioration in over 95% of the concrete joists due to corrosion in the reinforcing steel which has caused spalling and horizontal delamination of the concrete (Photo 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 17, 18). The corrosion is so severe in many locations that 100% of the rebar and the concrete cross section have completely disintegrated (Photo 21). All of the interior floor beams supporting concrete joists also have severe deterioration consisting of spalled concrete and exposed, corroded rebar (Photo 8, 9, 11, 12). There are several locations where the slab was weakened by the deterioration and fell apart, leaving large holes in the floor between the joists (Photo 23). 3.3 Fourth Floor The 461 floor is framed in wood (Photo 25). Half of the floor framing has been removed (Photo 26) and in the remaining areas, the floor sheathing has also been removed, leaving only the 2x12 joists exposed. All of the remaining floor areas have visible decay and/or termite damage (Photo 27, 28, 29, 30). It appears that portions of the damaged floor framing were repaired by adding 2x12 members along the side of the damaged joist. The steel wide flange girders exhibit moderate corrosion. www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 4 of 34 buildingstrength 3.4 Roof The wood roof framing has visible decay and/or termite damage (Photo 33, 34). There is also visible water leakage. Two different types of roof sheathing are visible, possibly indicating a roof repair that replaced damaged sheathing. The roof joists are supported by wood truss -like members that have visible, excessive deflections (Photo 31, 32). The wood framing for barrel tiled roof over -hangs that are on three sides of the building are damaged by decay and/or termites. Portions of the over -hang have detached from the face of the building and fallen off (Photo 2). 3.5 Exterior Beam and Column Frames All of the beams and columns in the exterior walls have severe deterioration due to corrosion in the reinforcing steel which has caused spalling and horizontal delamination of the concrete. The corrosion has caused the entire face of the beam or column to spall, exposing the rebar (Photo 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 27, 36). In many cases the corrosion is so severe that the rebar has completely disintegrated (Photo 15, 16, 17, 22). There are very wide cracks visible from the exterior in the columns (Photo 37). At the area where the 4til floor framing was removed, it has left the south and west exterior walls unbraced for two stories. 3.6 Exterior Walls The exterior walls exhibit varying amounts of deterioration consisting of cracks (Photo 35, 37), spalling concrete at exterior beams and columns (Photo 36), and the stucco finish detaching. There are cracks in the concrete walls below the 1st www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 5 of 34 buildingstrength floor level (Photo 38) and a horizontal crack running the length of the wall facing the Miami River (Photo 40). The wall openings around the windows are not reinforced. In many cases the window jambs consist of broken masonry which are less than the wall thickness to attach windows to (Photo 5, 6, 15, 19, 20, 39). 3.7 Stairs The stair in the SE corner has severe deterioration due to corrosion in the reinforcing steel which has caused spalling of the concrete (Photo 43, 45, 46). The damage from the corrosion is so severe that the landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors has collapsed (Photo 44, 46, 47, 48), and the concrete railing between the 1st and 2nd floors broke off (Photo 43, 45). Above the 3rd floor the stair is framed in wood which is severely deteriorated from decay and/or termite damage, which has caused portions of the stair to collapse (Photo 49). The concrete stairs in the NW corner of the building have moderate deterioration due to corrosion in the reinforcing steel. The stair does not have any hand railings (Photo 42). 4 CONCLUSIONS The primary structural components of the building observed for the condition assessment include the concrete beam and column frames, concrete floor systems, wood floor and roof systems, and the exterior walls. Our visual observations of the building found severe deterioration in every structural component of the building. The deterioration of the concrete members is caused by corrosion in the reinforcing steel due to the age of the building and exposure to the marine environment along the Miami River. The deterioration of the wood members is due to decay and/or termite attack. www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 6 of 34 • buildingstrength The corrosion in the concrete members has resulted in a significant loss in the amount of the cross sectional areas of both the reinforcing steel and concrete, causing substantial structural damage, and collapse in some areas. The concrete members consist of the primary structural frame and floor systems of the building. The concrete beam and column frames support the gravity loads from the floor and roof systems and provide the lateral resistance to wind loading. With a diminished strength of the structural frame and floor system, the building can not adequately resist the wind loads from hurricanes, and support the required floor live loads. In our professional opinion, the building in its current structural condition is unsafe and represents a hazard to any occupants. The restoration of a building typically would require the repair of any deterioration. Due to the extent of the damage in this building, the repair would consist of replacing the primary structural frame and the floor systems. I believe this would be equivalent to replacing the entire building and, therefore, would probably not be financially feasible to repair. 5 RECOMMENDATIONS During my site visits to the building I encountered homeless individuals living in the building. Because the building is unsafe, I recommend the building should be more securely closed to prevent access inside. In our opinion, based on the substantial structural damage to the primary load -bearing components of the building, and that it's probably unfeasible to repair them, the demolition of the building appears to be a logical course of action due to its current condition. www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 7 of 34 ! buildingstrength 6 DISCLAIMER The opinions and comments contained in this report are based on visual observations only and no calculations or structural analysis of the existing structure were performed to determine the adequacy of the structural system or its compliance with accepted building code requirements. Field observations were limited to structural components that were readily accessible and observable at the time of the site visit, and there is no claim, either stated or implied, that all conditions were observed. This report does not address any other portions of the structure other than those areas mentioned, nor does it provide any warranty, either expressed or implied, for any portion of the existing structure. This report is created solely for the City of Miami's benefit, and no other entity shall have rights or claim against the Condition Assessment Professional because of the performance or non-performance of the observations, opinions, conclusions or recommendations contained herein. www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 8 of 34 buildingstrength 7 PHOTOGRAPHS www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 9 of 34 • buildingstrength Photo 1 Photo 2 www.bniengineers.com Miami 1 Tallahassee 1 West Palm Beach 1 Orlando Page 10 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 3 Photo 4 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 11 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 5 Photo 6 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 12 of 34 • buildingstrength Photo 7 Photo 8 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 13 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 9 Photo 10 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 14 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 12 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 15 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 13 Photo 14 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 16 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 15 Photo 16 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 17 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 17 Photo 18 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 18 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 19 Photo 20 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 19 of 34 • buildingstrength 'ftloiftipaulimifts.. • 1.71 .0. 4 illik Mier Photo 21 Photo 22 www.bniengineers.com Miami 1 Tallahassee 1 West Palm Beach 1 Orlando Page 20 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 23 Photo 24 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 21 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 25 Photo 26 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 22 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 27 Photo 28 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 23 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 29 Photo 30 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 24 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 31 Photo 32 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 25 of 34 0 buildingstrength Photo 33 Photo 34 www.bniengineers.com Miami 1 Tallahassee 1 West Palm Beach 1 Orlando Page 26 of 34 • buildingstrength Photo 35 Photo 36 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 27 of 34 buildingstrength NON Photo 37 Photo 38 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 28 of 34 buildingstrength mu wiNIV Photo 39 Photo 40 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 29 of 34 ! buildingstrength Photo 41 Photo 42 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 30 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 43 Photo 44 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 31 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 45 Photo 46 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 32 of 34 • buildingstrength Photo 47 Photo 48 www.bniengineers.com Miami 1 Tallahassee 1 West Palm Beach 1 Orlando Page 33 of 34 buildingstrength Photo 49 www.bniengineers.com Miami I Tallahassee I West Palm Beach I Orlando Page 34 of 34