PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Residents of the South Beach III condo in Clearwater have been given the green light from engineers to return to the building, exactly one week after they were evacuated when a cracked column was discovered in the parking garage.
The city of Clearwater confirmed that Karins Engineering worked with a general contractor to install shoring from the ground level of the parking garage and up to the underside of the roof slab.
What You Need To Know
- Residents in the Clearwater condo building evacuated last week will be allowed back in their homes
- They were evacuated last week when a support beam at the South Beach III condo complex was found damaged
- Officials said the column has been stabilized and the building is safe to be reoccupied, under some circumstances
- PREVIOUS STORY: Evacuated residents allowed to get belongings from Clearwater condo
The engineering team said they also designed and detailed shoring installation drawings that were specific to the cracked column location, that the contractor used to do the installation.
Karins Engineering in a memo wrote that the building is safe to be occupied with some conditions.
Balconies of 23 different units must remain closed until supplemental shoring is installed, unit 605/606 must keep its west end master bedroom locked and no construction can take place without written approval from an engineer.
Karins Engineering also stated that deliveries of packages to the building can’t exceed 75 pounds. Case-by-case exceptions must be coordinated through the property manager.
Last week, a support beam at the South Beach III condo complex was found damaged.
Since then, crews worked to stabilize cracked pillars near the northwest corner of the building.
Building officials said if any unsafe conditions were to reappear, the building could be evacuated again.
