mark handler
SAWHORSE
MIKE BLASKY
MBLASKY@NAPANEWS.COM
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/did-building-retrofitting-work-in-napa-s-earthquake/article_2499d153-1848-5208-bdf1-3d2fd74f9f96.html
As development in downtown Napa exploded before the Great Recession,city officials devised a plan to compel business owners to fortify historic buildings against the threat of potentially devastating earthquakes.
The strategy was simple: As owners purchased and remodeled older buildings, raising rents and booting tenants to pave way for profitable luxury shops and restaurants, the city would dangle its carrot.
If a developer wanted a place in the posh downtown scene, officials demanded that their buildings be reinforced, satisfying a 2006 city ordinance requiring all commercial buildings to be earthquake retrofitted by 2009.
“We’ve got a hook,” said Rick Tooker, Napa's community development director. “The bottom line (for developers) was all about money. If it didn’t pencil up, they wouldn’t buy the building.”
The plan was in motion, and it was working. Hungry developers eyeing their slice of the downtown pie were eager to pay almost any price for renovation, knowing the future revenue that would be coming.
But the city’s plan was interrupted by the very earthquake they feared.
The Aug. 24 quake, the Bay Area's largest in 25 years, would raise immediate questions: Why had some owners failed to meet the 2009 deadline, when others had? Why hadn’t the city done more to force compliance? And, ultimately – did the retrofitting work?
Many of the buildings that had been retrofitted – the Goodman Library, Alexandria Square, and others – had suffered significant damage to their facades. Structurally, however, most buildings seemed to escape the temblor largely unscathed.
But as crews dug through the debris and rubble, a villain also seemed to emerge. Brian Silver, a lawyer, was one of a handful of downtown owners who hadn’t reinforced his buildings by the deadline.
The masonry veneer on Silver’s Napa Law Center on Brown Street spilled to the ground – crushing one car – and also the roof of a building owned by Michael L. Holcomb on Main Street. The building's rear walls had failed.
Altogether, two of Holcomb’s buildings were briefly red-tagged by the city, prohibiting entry, because of fears that Silver’s building could collapse.
That enraged Holcomb, who had paid $350,000 to retrofit each of his buildings on Main and Brown streets as he remodeled for new tenants.
Holcomb took to the media several times to chastise Silver for failing to meet the deadline.
“The rules are apparently different for Brian Silver,” he said in January.But Silver was just following the path of every other developer and owner, he said.
Merrill’s drug store, for instance, sat vacant for decades before being purchased by Todd Zapolski for his new Town Center and Archer hotel.
The city could have forced prior owner George Altamura to retrofit the building, but that wouldn’t have made economic sense for him.
But by fostering Altamura’s sale in 2012 to Zapolski -- who had big development plans -- the city could save a portion of the building and bring the site up to current codes.
This soft approach to enforcing the earthquake ordinance kept downtown development thriving, officials said.
“The city made certain the rising tide floated all the ships,” Tooker said.2/21/2015 Did building retrofitting workin Napa's earthquake?
But the city had no carrot to dangle in front of Silver. His development plans were far in the distance, if they even existed, officials said. He never remodeled his buildings and kept the same tenants.
Attempting to use the ordinance to force Silver's hand was an option, city officials said, but that was a hardline tactic that would have only delayed progress with tedious lawsuits, they believe.
Silver will never be convinced that retrofitting was the answer, even if it was the law. Reinforcing his buildings would have cost him $1.5 million, he said.
Without retrofitting, his building held up as well – or better – than historic buildings that had been retrofitted, Silver asserts. Alexandria Square and
the Goodman Library suffered much worse damage, and both had been reinforced, he said.
"The earthquake proved that retrofitting doesn't work," he said. "It's almost as useless as earthquake insurance."
Silver said he had wanted a $20 million development on his Brown Street property, and that’s still his goal. He was “a little farther behind” his downtown neighbors who retrofitted, he said.
City officials say Silver was lucky his building survived.
Two steel beams installed prior to Silver's ownership may have saved the structure from collapsing, said Dan Kavarian, the city’s senior building official. “They were probably the only thing that held it from falling completely down,” Kavarian said.
Kavarian said retrofitting is proven to work, preventing structures from collapsing so the occupants inside survive. We’re always learning more about the way earthquakes impact buildings, he said.
Structural engineers studying Napa’s earthquake discovered that buildings moved more side-to-side versus up-and-down, something that’s rarely seen. Alexandria Square may have failed because it wasn’t reinforced to absorb2/21/2015 Did building retrofitting workin Napa's earthquakethat kind of movement, he said.
“Hopefully when (the building) is redone it will react more favorably to that type of motion,” Kavarian said.
Tooker said people after the earthquake saw falling debris and damage and assumed retrofitting failed. But a retrofit is intended to protect people inside a structure, not necessarily preserve a structure completely, he said.
If Silver’s buildings would have collapsed with people inside, he’d be liable. And the city would also be questioned for not taking a hardline approach against a delinquent owner.
“That would be a legitimate comment,” Tooker said. “Even though not going after him at the time could have interfered with other important goals, some people would have said we shouldn’t have let (Silver) go.”
MBLASKY@NAPANEWS.COM
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/did-building-retrofitting-work-in-napa-s-earthquake/article_2499d153-1848-5208-bdf1-3d2fd74f9f96.html
As development in downtown Napa exploded before the Great Recession,city officials devised a plan to compel business owners to fortify historic buildings against the threat of potentially devastating earthquakes.
The strategy was simple: As owners purchased and remodeled older buildings, raising rents and booting tenants to pave way for profitable luxury shops and restaurants, the city would dangle its carrot.
If a developer wanted a place in the posh downtown scene, officials demanded that their buildings be reinforced, satisfying a 2006 city ordinance requiring all commercial buildings to be earthquake retrofitted by 2009.
“We’ve got a hook,” said Rick Tooker, Napa's community development director. “The bottom line (for developers) was all about money. If it didn’t pencil up, they wouldn’t buy the building.”
The plan was in motion, and it was working. Hungry developers eyeing their slice of the downtown pie were eager to pay almost any price for renovation, knowing the future revenue that would be coming.
But the city’s plan was interrupted by the very earthquake they feared.
The Aug. 24 quake, the Bay Area's largest in 25 years, would raise immediate questions: Why had some owners failed to meet the 2009 deadline, when others had? Why hadn’t the city done more to force compliance? And, ultimately – did the retrofitting work?
Many of the buildings that had been retrofitted – the Goodman Library, Alexandria Square, and others – had suffered significant damage to their facades. Structurally, however, most buildings seemed to escape the temblor largely unscathed.
But as crews dug through the debris and rubble, a villain also seemed to emerge. Brian Silver, a lawyer, was one of a handful of downtown owners who hadn’t reinforced his buildings by the deadline.
The masonry veneer on Silver’s Napa Law Center on Brown Street spilled to the ground – crushing one car – and also the roof of a building owned by Michael L. Holcomb on Main Street. The building's rear walls had failed.
Altogether, two of Holcomb’s buildings were briefly red-tagged by the city, prohibiting entry, because of fears that Silver’s building could collapse.
That enraged Holcomb, who had paid $350,000 to retrofit each of his buildings on Main and Brown streets as he remodeled for new tenants.
Holcomb took to the media several times to chastise Silver for failing to meet the deadline.
“The rules are apparently different for Brian Silver,” he said in January.But Silver was just following the path of every other developer and owner, he said.
Merrill’s drug store, for instance, sat vacant for decades before being purchased by Todd Zapolski for his new Town Center and Archer hotel.
The city could have forced prior owner George Altamura to retrofit the building, but that wouldn’t have made economic sense for him.
But by fostering Altamura’s sale in 2012 to Zapolski -- who had big development plans -- the city could save a portion of the building and bring the site up to current codes.
This soft approach to enforcing the earthquake ordinance kept downtown development thriving, officials said.
“The city made certain the rising tide floated all the ships,” Tooker said.2/21/2015 Did building retrofitting workin Napa's earthquake?
But the city had no carrot to dangle in front of Silver. His development plans were far in the distance, if they even existed, officials said. He never remodeled his buildings and kept the same tenants.
Attempting to use the ordinance to force Silver's hand was an option, city officials said, but that was a hardline tactic that would have only delayed progress with tedious lawsuits, they believe.
Silver will never be convinced that retrofitting was the answer, even if it was the law. Reinforcing his buildings would have cost him $1.5 million, he said.
Without retrofitting, his building held up as well – or better – than historic buildings that had been retrofitted, Silver asserts. Alexandria Square and
the Goodman Library suffered much worse damage, and both had been reinforced, he said.
"The earthquake proved that retrofitting doesn't work," he said. "It's almost as useless as earthquake insurance."
Silver said he had wanted a $20 million development on his Brown Street property, and that’s still his goal. He was “a little farther behind” his downtown neighbors who retrofitted, he said.
City officials say Silver was lucky his building survived.
Two steel beams installed prior to Silver's ownership may have saved the structure from collapsing, said Dan Kavarian, the city’s senior building official. “They were probably the only thing that held it from falling completely down,” Kavarian said.
Kavarian said retrofitting is proven to work, preventing structures from collapsing so the occupants inside survive. We’re always learning more about the way earthquakes impact buildings, he said.
Structural engineers studying Napa’s earthquake discovered that buildings moved more side-to-side versus up-and-down, something that’s rarely seen. Alexandria Square may have failed because it wasn’t reinforced to absorb2/21/2015 Did building retrofitting workin Napa's earthquakethat kind of movement, he said.
“Hopefully when (the building) is redone it will react more favorably to that type of motion,” Kavarian said.
Tooker said people after the earthquake saw falling debris and damage and assumed retrofitting failed. But a retrofit is intended to protect people inside a structure, not necessarily preserve a structure completely, he said.
If Silver’s buildings would have collapsed with people inside, he’d be liable. And the city would also be questioned for not taking a hardline approach against a delinquent owner.
“That would be a legitimate comment,” Tooker said. “Even though not going after him at the time could have interfered with other important goals, some people would have said we shouldn’t have let (Silver) go.”
