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Ocean Tower South Padre Shifting in the Sand
1361 Views :: 21 Comments :: :: South Padre Island, Investment
Construction was temporarily halted at Ocean Tower condos, on the north end of South Padre Island and the building delay on these 151 high priced, ocean view condos, has raised some concerns. 

Construction crews are still on site at the luxurious Ocean Towers condos, but work has been delayed. 

Cameron county officials say, after inspecting they realized, this 31 story high skyscraper is slowly settling into the sand. 

Column cracks in the parking garage structure concern former developers, but real estate agents and other experts, say,  there isn't much to worry about. 

What apparently happened is the tower and parking garage were mistakenly built connected and the tower is not leaning, but the parking garage structure did not settle. The connection of the garage to the tower caused cracks at the junction points because of the unsettling. 

Developers hope to resolve the situation and resume construction in just a few days. They say sinking is not un-heard of for buildings being built so close to the ocean. 

By Mark Nino

UPDATE 2 July 2008 - read official letter to buyers here 

very good news for the Ocean Tower project - the building will be safer and stronger than ever, just delayed
News VideoWatch news story video

We see this as a great opportunity to get a bargain right now on what will become the finest quality built tower - in the best location - on South Padre Island. The views and amenities are unmatched, and the units are the some of the largest on the Island. Make your offer contingent on the problem being fixed, the building permit issued and as always - get legal advice.

A rare opportunity to take advantage of the insurance and investment companies losses and their desire to regain momentum.

Anchoring a skyscraper like ocean tower is done by driving long concrete and steel piles down through the sand into the underlying ground surface. The friction between sand and so much concrete and steel is sufficient to hold the foundation above in place. 

The added weight of attaching the garage and Olympic size pool to the tower simply created to much shear weight to one side. The solution could involve separating the two structures, so that they independently stand on their own pilings. 

And even if the worse was to be, and they had to start over, how many buildings of this magnitude get a second shot? What they learned from 1st try, would prove invaluable for the re-build.

How Skyscrapers Work
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Comments
By Carl Phillips, Island Breeze @ Friday, June 20, 2008 9:05 AM
"The building has a settling problem. Engineers are trying to figure out what to do about it, how to correct it," says Cameron County Building Inspector Noe Benavidez

The building is outside the town's city limit, and is not come under the jurisdiction of the town's codes, which conform to the International Code Council's requirements.

Jay Mitchum, the Island's building inspector, said that the depth and diameter of pilings depend on engineering studies, but that in most cases the pilings are sunk at least as deep as the building is tall.

A company or individual constructing a high-rise building within city limits, he said, would spend $15,000 or more on the engineering studies, which would then be approved by the ICC.

"When I get a letter from the ICC approving and recommending the engineering study, that's when I issue a building permit," he said.

In the case of the new Sapphire Towers, he said, the owners changed the design after the initial study, and went through a second engineering study before construction began.
By Ocean Tower Representatives @ Friday, June 20, 2008 12:22 PM
We at Ocean Tower have been very concerned about the rumors and stories circulated about our resort condominiums.

We have heard speculation ranging from sinking, to tilting, to water damage, and there was even one irresponsible report the the building was not going to be completed.

Our engineers found settling between the tower and the parking garage which caused some concrete damage in the parking area.

We have retained the best structural engineers in Texas to correct this problem, and they have requested a continued suspension of work until their study is complete.

We expect to receive this report within 10 days, and will issue a public report at that time.
By Gary @ Friday, June 20, 2008 1:16 PM
I think it is impossible for any project this size to go 100% smoothly. (Look at all the problems they had with Sapphire.) ON THE OTHER HAND, if there is settling between the tower and the parking lot, it's probably the heavy tower that's sinking, not the much lighter weight parking lot. That may imply the contractor cut corners on the entire design, and that worries me. Also consider that the tower is nowhere near finished. There will be a LOT more weight added to that tower as the walls continue to go up, and people eventually move in. That can only increase the magnitude of the settling problem.

I'm not trying to imply the project is hopeless, but it will probably take a considerable period of time to resolve, most likely several years.

Maybe Alice is right, now would be a good time to pick up a serious deal, with your contract contingent upon building completion by whatever date your patience allows. (Those guys are going to need the money to make the required repairs.) I would be curious as to what kind of deals the management offers in the wake of this major incident.

Whoever is first to get their hands on the new pricing information, please post it for the rest of us. I love a good bargain.

I once lived in a condo in which the building contractor cut corners on the construction. The plumbing was totally screwed up, walls were less than soundproof, poorly insulated, etc. The foundation problem on Ocean Tower could be just the tip of the iceberg. Buyer beware.
By Sherman @ Friday, June 20, 2008 1:31 PM
"We see this as a great opportunity to get a bargain right now on what will become the finest quality built tower - in the best location - on South Padre Island. The views and amenities are unmatched, and the units are the some of the largest on the Island."

You could also get a great room rate at the original MGM Grand in Las Vegas when it was burning to the ground. Do you think this is also a good time to get into Midwest river property?
By Karl S. @ Saturday, June 21, 2008 9:46 AM
The story in the Monitor makes this sound like the "Leaning Tower of Pisa", not some kind of simple settling problem that can be easily fixed.

http://www.themonitor.com/articles/building_13431___article.html/tower_padre.html

Engineers study leaning tower on South Padre Island

June 20, 2008 - 4:47PM

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND -- The owners of a high-rise building under construction north of Andy Bowie Park have some serious decisions to make following the discovery of possible structural problems.

Construction on the 25-story Ocean Tower condominiums owned by McAllen-based Domit Development has been temporarily halted, according to Cameron County Building Inspector Noe Benavidez.

A woman who answered the phone at Domit but declined to give her name confirmed Thursday that the condo building north of South Padre Island's city limits had a "settling" problem and that construction has ceased for the time being.

Because of its location, the structure does not come under the jurisdiction of the town's building codes, which conform to the International Code Council's requirements.

The council is a membership association that promotes building safety and fire prevention and develops codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings. Most U.S. cities, counties and states that adopt such codes use ones developed by the council.

The Ocean Tower building was leaning toward the northwest enough to crack the wall of an adjacent garage that abuts the tower, the woman at Domit said.

"We have engineers studying the problem," she said. "I'm sure we'll find a way to correct it."

She is expecting an engineer's report in approximately 10 days, she said.

"At that time we'll have a pretty good idea of how to go about fixing the problem," she added.
By Mitch @ Sunday, June 22, 2008 3:42 PM
I believe the owner needs to show his face and settle all of this rumors, it is only going to get worse , I hear people now saying they are going to tear it down. He need to act fast before it is too late , not talking is not helping at all.
By Benny Tello @ Sunday, June 22, 2008 4:52 PM
Either they screwed up the foundation design, or there is something very bad happening under our island. I sure would feel a lot better if the local government hired somebody to check the rest of the high rises on the island. I'm definitely NOT trying to start a wild rumor about ground shift on the island, but it is a fair question. I think the odds are that this specific foundation was just under designed, nothing more.
By Padre Builder @ Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:30 AM
No matter how it is spun, a building settling like this is absolutely NOT normal. The fact that it is that close to the ocean is irrelevant. The building has shifted and evidently CONTINUES to shift. I agree with the post below, great time to pick up units? Are you kidding me?
By mikead @ Tuesday, July 01, 2008 1:48 AM
Who's On The Hook?

There is no date on this press release, but this appears to be it.

$75,000,000 Financing for Ocean Front Condominium Tower

South Padre Island will soon have a new skyline view, with the addition of what will be the tallest and most luxurious building on the Island. “Towering” 486 feet in the air, Ocean Tower Condominiums ("OT:SPI") will be the marquis address on South Padre Island, TX.

Metropolitan Capital Advisors, Ltd. (“MCA”) has arranged interim construction financing of the 30-Story, 148-Unit ocean front condominium. OT:SPI will have the common amenities of a Five-Star resort, including an outdoor infinity pool, indoor heated pool, fully functioning gym and spa, restaurants, kid’s club, business center and media room.

Interior amenities include Italian marble floors, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, custom cabinets, stainless steel fixtures, over-sized Jacuzzi tub and stand-up showers.

MCA arranged a $75,000,000 interim construction loan for Ocean Tower Condominiums on behalf of a Partnership sponsored by Mr. Antun Domit. The financing was a 90% loan to cost.

Hook Harmeling, Senior Director at MCA, was responsible for arranging the 3-year, $75,000,000 interim construction loan with First Bank (First Marshall Bank of Minneapolis, MN).

Metropolitan Capital Advisors specializes in the exclusive representation of investors, developers and property owners in the real estate capital markets. Since 1992, MCA has closed in excess of $3,500,000,000 of debt and equity transactions.
By Padre Builder @ Tuesday, July 01, 2008 10:01 AM
For a builder, this news is not troubling. It is not bad. It is not upsetting. It is not unsettling. THIS NEWS IS CATASTROPHIC.

The actual problem with the building will be eventually made public. Debate between now and then is, as others have suggested, purley speculation. However, the actual problem is nearly inconsequential now to the owner.

Assume two outcomes: One, there is a fix to the issue that allows them to maintain the existing structure and move toward completion with just this delay while they investigate. Second, the building cannot be salvaged and must be taken down.

With the first, that most would consider the best outcome, the owner will be millions, that's with an "M", over budget. Lost time, added scope, corrective work, lost work already done that must be re-done, interest carry, legal bills, advertising to correct negative PR, will be hugely expensive. Sure, they can sue the engineers that designed it, the geo tech who did the soils study, the architect, the pier driller, anyone. (I have no idea who did what). However, there is no guarantee of recovery and even if they did, this is YEARS out. They will likely have buyer revolt from those currently under contract and it will be damn near impossible to convince new buyers that the building is a good buy given the problems they've had (read: they could not design a building that stands up, why should we trust the rest of it?). Buyers they do have will get a huge price break to stay on board. Future contracts will be for much less money presumabley. Couple these facts with the huge overruns and these owners will likely be building this for practice or at a loss. Lovely.

Second, let's say they have to implode it. Owners/architcts/engineers/GC all have a legal battle that ensues to estbalish fault. In the interim, the bank has a note outstanding for the $40MM or whatever the existing loan is with NO prospect for ever paying it back.

This is terrible news for the owner. My hat is off to the spin used by the folks in the press. I can assure you, however, they are not happy behind the scenes.

Anyone who claims 'all buildings have issues like this' has no idea of what they speak.
By Official Letter to Buyers @ Thursday, July 03, 2008 7:48 AM
Very good news for the Ocean Tower project - the building will be safer and stronger than ever, just delayed

Read the Official Letter to Buyers dated 2 July 2008 at:
http://www.alicedonahue.com/OceanTowers.aspx
By Sally B. @ Thursday, July 03, 2008 5:11 PM
If I understand that OT letter correctly, the tower is leaning because they didn't dig the foundation pilings deep enough. So now they're going to start a new project: temporarily support the tower so it doesn't fall over. With the tower fully supported (from the sides?), they can then go about the process of engineering a new foundation. (Did I understand all that right?)

I bet nobody has ever done a repair job quite like this before, but I admire them for trying. I'm not optimistic about the outcome, or the 6 - 9 month schedule they quote. I am however confident that they will be very conservative in their new design, and that the new foundation will work. (They couldn't blow it twice in a row, right?)

So what are we to make of all this? I tend to believe in the "cockroach theory", that is, if you find one cockroach there are probably many others lurking nearby. In other words I think it highly likely that Ocean Towers cut corners elsewhere in the design, and residents will eventually confront other substandard aspects of the building.

The most disturbing thing about all this is that the building wasn't even near completion, they had a LOT more weight to add. Now think about what could have happened the first time this building rode through a significant hurricane. This foundation design WASN'T EVEN CLOSE to what was needed. I hope we don't have a big storm between now and the time the new bracing project is complete. That could be a real disaster.

I would be curious to know who is to blame for this foundation problem. Was there neglect on the part of the foundation engineers, or did the general contractor try and cut corners? If the engineers cut corners, you could be sure that the building construction managers would be pointing the finger directly at them. I haven't heard anything like that yet, so I'm going to assume the general contractor cut corners. At the moment I'm not feeling too warm and fuzzy about the idea of buying one of these apartments.

And what is everybody else who lives in a SPI high-rise to make of all this? Are other building foundations in danger as well? I previously assumed these foundations went all the way down to some kind of bedrock, but now we learn that they're sitting on top of nothing more than compacted sand? I believe the contractor's claim that that compacted sand can be very strong, but that still doesn't make me feel good about the idea of a 25 story tower resting on top of only sand.
By Maurice @ Friday, July 11, 2008 12:47 PM
OCEAN TOWERS FILES COURT PETITION OVER FOUNDATION PROBLEMS
By LOGAN HAWKES
THE PRESS

Ocean Towers and Domit Development of McAllen have filed a court petition seeking $125 million for what it is calling fraud over construction and engineering services on the 30-plus story Ocean Towers condominium project on the North end of the Town of South Padre Island.

Progress on a 31 floor state-of-the-art residential development was interrupted once the building began to sink early last week. Ocean Towers, a Texas limited partnership, is saying Datum Engineering, Raba-Kistner Consultants & Zachary Construction Corporation failed to do the job well enough to support the heavy high rise being constructed just yards away from the surf of Padre Island. The plantiff, Domit Development, says the problem can be fixed at a price of 125-million dollars - an amount Domit wants the engineers and contractors to pay.

South Padre Island Economic Development Corporation President Richard Franke calls the incident unfortunate and says part of the problem may be that building inspection for the project falls under the responisbility of Cameron County and not the Town of SPI, who has more rigid inspection requirements. Franke says the sub-soils of the Island are made up of clay substances and that engineers must allow for settling in the design phase in order to bolster foundation support for high rise projects.

Developers of Ocean Towers charger in the court petition that the engineers of the project failed to test soils to the proper depth and further charges Zachary Construction of adding the floors above the 7th floor level even though they knew the building was settling at a greater rate than anticipated. The petition charges the contractor with rushing the construction phase in order to receive draws on the project.

A hearing on the civil action is expected to be held in a State District courtroom in Brownsville, though no date has yet been set.
By Herb @ Saturday, July 12, 2008 7:57 PM
I seriously doubt if that tower can be repaired. It's just too messed up with cracked, broken, and bent beams. Show me just one company that has proven experience to fix a 31 story leaning tower like that - just one. Tony Domit, the developer, is hoping to fix it for somewhere between $20M - $25M, but the wide range of the estimate means nobody knows exactly what will happen until they get deep into the project. No contractor in their right mind would ever guarantee a repair job like that, though some might be willing to risk it for a huge successful completion bonus. Domit can surely find dozens of contractors with good marketing teams that will take more of his money, maybe the same type that underdesigned the foundation in the first place. That's what happens when you're in a rush to get your money, and select the low bidder without doing your homework.

If Domit had any integrity whatsoever, he would also immediately let all those old people that signed condo purchase contracts off the hook - unconditionally. But oh no, that greedy guy wants to keep their money, enforcing a "casualty loss" provision in their individual purchase contracts. Shame on Domit for continuing to hold their money, and blaming his problems on the contractors that HE selected!
By LARRY MARK POLSKY,ESQ. @ Sunday, July 13, 2008 11:12 AM
8 purchasers of Sapphire units are fighting back against the contractor for his fauilure to complete the roads..utilities and recreational facilities in a timely facshion. They are suing in the Disatrict Court in Brownsville to get their deposits back......
By stevead @ Tuesday, July 15, 2008 3:40 PM
I think that a couple of things being discussed in this blog need to be elaborated on.

1. The General Contractor (Zachary) builds what the Architects and Engineers specify. Sometimes substitutions are allowed, but substitutions must be approved by the Owner’s/Developer ‘s Architects and/or Engineers. Shortcuts, shoddy workmanship, and sub-standard materials are hard things to get approved. The speed at which the GC completes his tasks, per approved plans, should not be an issue if the critical inspections (can be milestones in the critical path method) are performed and passed as scheduled or needed. A competent GC can speed up his schedule and not compromise quality. Zachary did this before when they repaired the Queen Isabella Causeway Bridge after its unfortunate collapse in 2001.

2. On projects of this size, countless ongoing quality assurance inspections are necessary from the beginning design phases through to the issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy. This is paramount for a good end product. These inspections should be performed by a reputable non-biased third party company. Unfortunately, the Cameron County Building Department per se has no prior experience with high-rise structures. OT SPI is the tallest structure ever built within the Cameron County Building Department’s jurisdiction. On the other hand, The Town of South Padre Island Building Department has many successful high-rise buildings under its belt and another major one about to be completed. Sapphire South Padre. Maybe Cameron County should have enlisted some help from our humble little town of SPI?

3. Contrary to other opinions in this blog, sand is a suitable sub-stratum for piers when properly sized for the weight that will be attached to them. If there are any engineers in the audience please correct me if I am wrong, but I think I am on the right track here... It is not the sand that holds up the building, rather it is the static pressures of the weight of the sand, pushing against the walls of the piers, that holds the weight of the structure in place.

4. While elastic clay soils, sandy loams and corral sands may not the most ideal soil types to build on...”proper engineering” can overcome any shortcomings of these types of sub-stratums. I think we are in for a lot of mud slinging (more probably sand) before we see where the final blame will be placed.

5. The developer, Tony Domit, has a good case for damages resulting from negligence and a good case for punitive damages. However, his stance of not letting his new investors (the buyers) off the hook is unfortunate. He should include them in (proportionately as limited partners) on any settlement monies if and when any settlement is reached and monies awarded.
By Cory Anne @ Wednesday, July 16, 2008 7:38 AM
just look at the ORIGINAL marketing literature, which BRAGGED about the foundation integrity. (not the current white-washed website)

Developer: BE A MAN and take responsibility for the screwup. give deposits back to condo buyers, instead of pointing the finger elsewhere!
By Wayne W. @ Sunday, July 20, 2008 5:12 PM
Just tear it down. It's an unsafe eyesore, and you can't fix a collapsing building like that. Use the chunks of discarded concrete to form an artificial reef to stop beach erosion. Then, one of these days, if the developer ever wins his lawsuits and gets a second chance at rebuilding, he'll have the best beach on SPI!
By Sam @ Tuesday, July 22, 2008 2:23 PM
I wonder if the tower's problems will worsen after Dolly hits the island. Consider that the tower is already unstable, and the national weather service is predicting wind gusts up to 105 mph on Wednesday.

By T. Lauri @ Monday, August 04, 2008 7:15 PM
Sounds to me like Domit is just another wheeler-dealer who got caught with his pants down. I would never buy anything that he is associated with. Ultimately it was his responsibility to get it right. He can lay blame wherever he wants, but the buyers bought from him, not Zachry or the engineering firms.

I hope they tear it down because the resale value of this poorly engineered building will sink ten times as fast as the building itself and the buyers will be stuck with a financial nightmare.
By EdwardB @ Thursday, August 07, 2008 8:56 AM
The Ocean Tower project was a design-build contract between Zachry and the developer. What a design-build contract means is that Zachry was responsible for the overall design of the building - Zachry contracted out the design team. With that being said, it is pretty clear cut that Zachry is responsible for any deficencies in the design or construction of the tower. The developer has every right to file a lawsuit to try and recuop some of his losses that he is going to incur. Bottom line is that you cannot re-engineer the tower to correct the problem...the tower needs to be demolished.
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