South Padre's 'leaning tower' to be demolished

San Antonio Express-News ^ | 09/22/2009 | By Lynn Brezosky - Express-News

[Responsibility2nd]

 

COURTESY PHOTO

Ocean Tower was to be South Padre’s newest luxury skyscraper before it started sinking during building.

   

BROWNSVILLE — The company that imploded the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, the Seattle Kingdome and the RCA Dome in Indianapolis has been hired to demolish Ocean Tower, an unfinished condominium tower that has been sinking into the sands of South Padre Island. 

The 31-story building, since dubbed the “Leaning Tower of Padre,” is now the subject of a $125 million lawsuit against Raba-Kistner Consultants Inc. of San Antonio and Datum Engineering of Austin. 

Zachry Construction Corp., which was working on the project under a joint venture with Coastal Constructors, was dropped from the lawsuit filed in June 2008. Purchasers have been released from all contracts and have had their deposits refunded. 

“We believe it is in the best interest of all parties involved, including the people of South Padre Island, to demolish Ocean Tower,” Ocean Tower LP said in a statement Monday. “Unfortunately, multiple engineering studies have led us to the conclusion that it is not economically feasible to complete the building and to provide the caliber of condominium tower that we intended to build.” 

Matthew Cano, an attorney for Raba-Kistner, said he advised his client not to discuss pending litigation with news media. 

“I believe we have factual and legal defenses to this lawsuit, and we'll be vigorously defending it,” he said.

Demolition is set for November by Controlled Demolition Inc., which set the Guinness World Record for largest structure implosion by volume when it brought down the Kingdome. 

The ambitious project extended South Padre's skyline to the north and was billed as one of the most luxurious new spots on the island. Construction halted in the summer of 2008 after the building settled more than 14 inches in some spots, causing cracks in beams and columns. 

It was not immediately clear how much the implosion would cost. Jeff Coyle, the San Antonio-based spokesman for Ocean Tower, said most of the building materials, including steel, concrete, windows, and fixtures such as flooring and bathtubs, would be removed and recycled for other projects.

[Responsibility2nd]

How's that old Bible school song go?

"The foolish man built his house upon the sand..."

[el_texicano]

Or is this a reality parable to the Obama administration!!!

May Obama/Obama supporters forever sink beneath the waves, before he drags us with him.

[poobear]

“Raba-Kistner Consultants Inc. of San Antonio and Datum Engineering of Austin.”

Those two firms will not look good on your resume.

Can't wait to see the implosion!

[Dumpster Baby]

The Chinese do buildings-under-construction-falling-over the best.

[RobbyS]

And Padre is just one long sand bar.

[US Navy Vet]

http://www.controlled-demolition.com/default.asp? They are Christian owned and I believe the they say a prayer before they push the button on EVERY job.

[kennedy]

I have been going to South Padre with my family since I was a kid in the 1960s.

South Padre is one long sand bar. I have no idea how many hundreds of feet you would have to go to hit bedrock. There is only so much you can build on compacted sand. I don’t know how they were able to build the few skyscraper condos that are there now.

[Xenalyte]

We had a demolition of the building next to my office back in March - the old Compass Bank on Post Oak. It was COOOOOOOL.

[Tarpon]

It’s what happens when engineering goes bad ... Reality.

Something liberals will never understand.

[17th Miss Regt]

Construction halted in the summer of 2008 after the building settled more than 14 inches in some spots, causing cracks in beams and columns.

Allow me to be the first to say it.

Bush's fault!

[Dixie Yooper]

Allow me to be the first to say it. Bush's fault!

Not so fast! I think we can all agree that this is the direct result of Global Warming, which is entirely Bush's Fault!

[TrueFact]

Aw——beat me to it!!!!

[thackney]

You two should submit a bid for the demo.

It would be great on U-Tube.

[poobear]

Controlled demolition is very cool! Hope you took some pics.

[Stat-boy]

“I have no idea how many hundreds of feet you would have to go to hit bedrock.”

Model the sand more like a fluid than a solid; and drill lots of piles. Think of the ground level foundation as a platform. (I have lots of engineers in my family who have worked on designs much more complicated than this hotel.)

[Xenalyte]

Unfortunately, I couldn’t be here to watch, but several of my co-workers showed up and took awesome pictures and video!

[poobear]

Just for the memories...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS7AhS0Krv4

Nice and neat!

[BrewingFrog]

This will be an interesting demolition due to the proximity of some luxury homes just to the north of the ‘leaning tower’ and well within the likely debris radius.

From what I understand from the locals, the engineering firm planned on joining the parking garage to the tower structure as one rigid element, not thinking through the fact that the garage is considerably lighter than the tower. The lean is noticable from across the Laguna Madre...

When I was there a couple of weeks ago, big cracks were visible in the concrete structure and fairly large chunks were falling off. They’d better hurry with that demolition, before the thing comes crashing down all on its own!

[maine yankee]

In south padre, even the buildings lean to the left.

[Xenalyte]

It was a very well-done implosion. Good times, good times.