ST. LUCIE COUNTY − Documents and videos released this week provide new insight into the structural issues at three of the Villa Del Sol condominium buildings that were evacuated last week.
The condos are at 11000 S. Ocean Drive on Hutchinson Island in southern St. Lucie County, south of Waveland Beach. Three, three-story oceanfront structures there were evacuated last week, with about 11 residents being “basically displaced,” after the buildings were deemed unsafe, said Flynn Fidgeon, St. Lucie County communications manager. The three structures were built in 1974, Fidgeon stated.
AB Plus Engineering & Restoration of West Palm Beach was hired to perform a phase 1 milestone inspection report, according to records released by St. Lucie County.
Phase 1 inspections typically include a visual examination of habitable and nonhabitable areas of the building, including the building's major structural components. If the architect or engineer finds any signs of structural deterioration, a phase 2 inspection must be performed.
The state-required inspection came of condominium buildings three or more stories high after the June 2021 condominium collapse in Miami-Dade County in which nearly 100 died and dozens more were left without a home.
The AB Plus report “identified structural damage” in three buildings “based on limited observations of accessible portions of the crawl spaces (approximately half of the crawl spaces were not accessible),” according to an Aug. 8, e-mail from Gustavo A. Alvarez, identified as principal engineer at AB Plus.
After documents were prepared for concrete restoration work and work was being performed, apparently more excavation work to crawl spaces was done “which exposed more extensive damage than initially observed,” Alvarez wrote.
Alvarez noted “ongoing excavations revealed significant structural damage to critical elements (in a number of areas).”
Numerous areas had cracks in concrete larger than one-quarter inch. Large pieces of concrete could be taken out by hand or by tapping with a hammer; rebar was disintegrating.
Portions of video provided by St. Lucie County clearly show crumbling concrete, large cracks and rusted rebar.
“Given the severity of these conditions, I strongly recommend the immediate evacuation of residents from Buildings 4 and 5, along with the urgent implementation of emergency shoring,” Alvarez wrote. He later included Building 3 in his evacuation recommendation.
Eric Johnson is one of the residents impacted, and spoke Aug. 9 in the condo parking lot.
“They pretty much just told us, grab whatever you can and try to get out as fast as possible,” said Johnson, standing in the condo parking lot Friday. “At the time, we had no idea where we were going, so we were just packing up whatever we could.”
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Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com .
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: New documents, video detail damage at Villa Del Sol condos in St. Lucie County
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