Your Management team shares our community and nation’s shock and sadness over the incident in Florida. Our deepest sympathies are shared with the families and friends of those who were injured and lost their lives.

The news coverage, photos, interviews with residents and families, and reports of the condition the structure was apparently in for many years before the incident took place, is nothing short of heartbreaking and horrifying.

This has caused us all to pause and ask, “What about here? Could this really happen?” There are scores of variables at odds between a building in the Midwest and a building sitting on the beach in Florida – if not hundreds. The climate and saltwater environment perhaps being the biggest. Looking at Park Tower, there is also a formidable difference in construction.

The latest we see is how much bickering the Condo Association Owners and residents were engaged in over the past 3 years which delayed solutions to the deterioration, and likely made matters worse. Here is a great article about that:

Washington Post Article – Florida Building Collapse

I’ve been Park Tower’s Property Manager for 14 years. While there have been policy issues which caused controversy we’ve had to weed through from time to time, one very positive characteristic has remained constant. Whenever your professionals (management, staff, engineering firms, legal counsel, etc.) have addressed structural or mechanical concerns, your Boards have ALWAYS listened and acted. When we consider maintenance and care of the building, PTCA does not sit on its hands – not ever! Once professional opinions have been presented to your Boards, they have been acted on without unreasonable delay. The most debate is typically over which proposal to choose, and not the type of squabbling the Washington Post article above describes.

Also, the solid financial health of Park Tower has been a big plus. We’ve all heard by now about the $15MILLION Special Assessment facing the Condo Owners at the building in Florida. Possibly a huge reason for the bickering and delay in getting work started. Because PTCA’s Boards have made a substantial commitment to long term planning and ample funding of the reserve such that Special Assessments are avoided, we have not had to debate them. Park Tower Owners have never been forced to fund major projects separate from the regular assessments.

First, your Boards have relied on a regularly updated Reserve Study to map out the health and anticipated lifespan of most structural and mechanical components of the building. A professional firm (we use Reserve Advisors) studies the building, walks the common areas regularly from roof to basement, interviews management and the staff, reviews recent repairs, meeting minutes and other records, and presents an almost 200 page report that maps out the next 30+ years of physical and mechanical needs. Then, annually, management presents a long term budget for the Reserve Fund which is anchored in the information and detail that Reserve Study provides. The budget is adjusted each year to insure the cash flow will be there to fund everything that can reasonably be foreseen for the next 10 years. Finally, for most large or sensitive projects, such as the Garage Project, we enlist the guidance of an engineering firm.

In the case of the work we’ve done in the Garage, the process started with the Reserve Study identifying the membrane as a component of the structure reaching the end of its useful life. Funding was earmarked in the budget for 2020/2021. In anticipation of this, in 2019 management recommended the Board hire Wiss, Janney, Elstner, a Chicago engineering firm. They did a forensic study of the garage which was presented to the Board, and followed by detailed specifications for structural repairs and replacement of the protective membrane.

Fast forward to today, and Park Tower has completed a million dollar project without needing a Special Assessment.

This is certainly not to say things never happen that are unexpected. I’m sure many owners read our Roundup Reports and minutes from Board Meetings. Surprises do pop up from time to time. Something that should have a useful life of 10 to 20 years, may not last that long and we have to make a plan sooner than expected to address it. However, I have high confidence PTCA should never face anything on the scale of what we’ve heard about with this condo in Florida. With our proactive planning and responsible budgeting, Park Tower is in an excellent position to successfully navigate the future with very little possibility of special assessments or failures in structural integrity on the scale of what appears to have occurred in Florida.

Certainly, when and if a definitive cause of the collapse is identified, we will be evaluating it and making sure there is nothing we are missing here in our efforts to plan for the future.