Dear Owners-
We committed to share information with you when we receive it. We have received the reports on each building, from Keystone, the structural engineers hired by the flood adjuster.
The reports are posted below but we’d like to address the E/K building report specifically. In the report, Keystone’s assessment is “that the structural damage to the second-level floor panels associated with storm surge from Hurricane Ian is not reasonably repairable, but rather, will require that the building be demolished and rebuilt.”
This is one assessment and one data point. Please realize that the interest of the insurer’s engineer is not what we do with the property but the extent of damage relative to how much they have to pay.
While it is certainly not what we wanted to hear, we are ahead of it. As you know, we are hiring two, independent engineering firms to assess the E/K buildings and make their own recommendations. That will give us much more information. But it will take time.
Thank you for your patience as we continue to move things forward.
Keystone Structural Engineers Reports 12-5-22
We have several updates to share.
Building Stabilization
Finally- some good news! The flowable fill foundation stabilization work has been success.
Under slab work was also completed in A building and there is still some shoring to be installed but overall, the building is stabilized.
All units in A, B, D and F buildings are now accessible. The Jenkins appointment calendar has been opened for these units to owners and adjusters. There will be some restrictions on access in A, D 01, B 01 and 02 units due the safety issues limiting the number of people in a unit for safety. For your convenience the Jenkins appointment calendar link is below.
- The sliding glass doors and/or windows in F-301 and F-401 have been boarded up.
- The temp roof on A building will begin Monday and is expected to be completed by Friday.
- The large pieces of dry out equipment (desiccants) are slowing being removed. As units are dried and reach optimum dry out conditions portable dehumidifiers (LGR’s) will be able to be utilized on a case-by-case basis to maintain stabilization.
The E and K buildings remain closed. Unfortunately, we have not received the structural engineering report from the flood adjuster, despite multiple assurances that it would be available any day. That said, we are in the process of hiring two, structural engineering firms to give the Association an independent assessment of what it will take to maintain the buildings. We will provide all members of the Association with an update once the contracts with these two independent engineering firms have been finalized. We expect that to be in the next week.
Matterports
For units that were accessible, Matterport images were distributed before Thanksgiving. If you haven’t received yours, please check your Spam or Junk folder, as some owners have found it there. The email come from “National Response Team”.
If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact the designated Jenkins representative assigned to your unit.
With the building stabilizations completed Matterporting will commence in all units in A building, B 01, B 02, D 01, D 03, D 04, and the F 01 units.
As shared previously, the estimates for the unit owner responsibility were not included. We are awaiting an assessment by the wind adjuster of each unit, so we are sure we have approval and agreement for what drywall needs to be removed. They have informed us that it will still be a few weeks until they get to our Association. They are working on other Associations on the island, including our neighbors at Sundial East. This is not something we have control over.
Drywall
There are many questions about drywall removal. While we wait for the information from the wind adjuster, Jenkins had planned to begin removal of the damaged drywall in the worst units first. For the reasons stated above this has been delayed pending confirmation from the Association’s adjuster. We will continue to do what we can to try and speed up this process.
While we continue in this holding pattern, please know that any owner that wishes to remove their contents may engage their own contractor to do so. There will be guidelines that will need to be followed when doing so. We are working on these and will have them available as soon as possible.
We had previously discussed the possibility of Jenkins assisting in these efforts with the use of lift equipment. We are still working on this possibility and hope to be able to provide you with more details in the coming week.
Elevators
We are working with the association’s elevator contractor to begin working on the elevator clean up. This work begins with extracting the contaminated water out of the elevator pits starting next week. Proposals are being obtained to repair/rebuild the elevators and elevator equipment.
Recent Board Actions & Meeting Recap
In the November 29th meeting, the Board approved the hiring of National Fire Adjustment Company (NFA), a Public Adjuster firm. This is a large loss claim and a very complicated one. We have 11 wind policies and 8 flood polices, plus numerous ancillary policies. NFA was already on property on November 30th, to begin their initial assessment of the damage, they met with Stacy Goode, our manager, and have meetings scheduled with Jenkins next week.
As previously stated, we are in the process of hiring two, structural engineering firms to give the Association an independent assessment of what it will take to maintain the buildings. We will provide all members of the Association with an update once the contracts with these two independent engineering firms have been finalized. We expect that to be in the next week.
All indications from engineering firms we have spoken to are that anything can be saved, it's just a matter of how much it will cost. Saving these buildings continues to be the outcome we are all hoping for.
It is imperative that we have a good team in place to manage this loss. It is bigger than the board and our staff can manage. We want to make sure that we have professionals in place that have the expertise in these matters to get us through our recovery process to make us whole again.
The team we have in place includes the board and Association staff, our legal team at Becker, and newly hired NFA. In addition to the two independent engineers, we are also seeking a project manager and/or a clerk of the works.
These last two positions, as many of you have heard from town hall and board meetings will be tasked with overseeing/reviewing the day-to-day work, accounting for labor, equipment and double checking such against expenditures.
The recovery process will be documented on a building-by-building basis. All expenses, repairs and payments will be tracked in this manner to ensure that policy limits are met and all funds available are received. This is one of the services the newly hired public adjusting firm will also be assisting with.
The board is committed to all owners to do its best for the association. As owners, we all love Sundial and want it back.
USEFUL INFORMATION
Property Taxes
We get many questions about property taxes, especially since the Tax Bills were distributed recently. The news story below may have some information you find helpful. We are also including the information provided by the tax collector’s office in the tax bills regarding possible tax credits for qualifying properties that suffered damage as a result of Hurricane Ian.
Hurricane Ian Relief – To ensure your eligibility for any available Hurricane Ian relief, tell us about your property damage by using this
hurricane reporting link. You can also directly upload photos and other information
here.
