Condominium-ized Storage building fire walls

[jpowell]

Hi all,

I am reviewing a small storage building, 4,500 sf. It is broken up into 4 equal bays. It is small enough that it doesn't require sprinklers or fire walls. The applicant is considering condominium-izing (new word!) the units. I think we are looking at "party walls" 706.1.1 and we would need "fire walls" in accordance with the same section.

Can anyone weigh in on this? I think when you have condo ownership you essentially create new lot lines. Thanks!

 

[cda]

why????????

is this a totaly seperate building? storage only?

 

[jpowell]

Why indeed. I don't really know.

Yes, it is totally separate.

 

[steveray]

Does not necessarily create a property line.....

 

[Codegeek]

Technically they would have to replat the property to show each unit on a separate parcel/lot. The building code will only recognized true property lines in terms of protection.

 

[cda]

so would each condo own one of these

or would they be rented out to condo owners that want one??

 

[jpowell]

They would be re-platted as separate ownership. The storage units themselves are the "condo" ownership. There are no residential condo's associated with these units. Does that clarify?

 

[steveray]

"They would be re-platted as separate ownership.".....Not when they find out how much that and the firewalls will cost.....

 

[tmurray]

The way we deal with condos is that the "property lines" created for the condos are not true property lines. We treat condos just like we would apartments. They way you are looking at this building isn't that hard to accomplish, but it does make multi-storey condo buildings very interesting to construct (I don't know if such a thing exists as a "fire floor").

 

[cda]

So in review

The only thing on the property will be the storage units

And each would be individually owned

And each would be its own property parcel

Is the area zoned for this?

 

[jpowell]

Thanks for the input. I am seeing this the same way that tmurray is. Residential condos are treated the same as an apartment building in the building code. The same would go for this storage building. Treat it as a regular storage building. The difference between this situation and a zero lot line situation is this: For condos, there is a building shell that contains these individual condos. The building shell is commonly owned. The condo owners own to the sheetrock basically. Contrast that with (4) adjacent lots with "one building" running continuously between them with zero lot lines, where you need those separation fire walls to treat each area as its own "building."

 

[mtlogcabin]

Condo is a real-estate term and is not found in the building codes.

Technically you own the space within a specific unit. The "condo association" owns the building hence no property lines.

 

[cda]

Condo is a real-estate term and is not found in the building codes.Technically you own the space within a specific unit. The "condo association" owns the building hence no property lines.

And they shall call him understood