Engineer: Catapult 2.0 won't be able to refurbish Lakeland Cash Feed building

LAKELAND — Hurricane Irma broke the back of the Lakeland Cash Feed building, and the only reasonable course forward is to demolish it, its owners said.

The Lakeland Economic Development Council had planned to convert the 1925 warehouse on the north shore of Lake Mirror to a $13 million headquarters and expanded business incubator, Catapult 2.0.

But immediately upon seeing that one of the second-story windows had ejected its metal window framing, which lay twisted on the ground, LEDC Vice Chairman Wesley Beck said he was concerned.

Further inspection of the building presented more bad news: The east and west walls, bowed slightly before, had now taken on a more significant curve; the roof started leaking; and steel trusses that formed the frame of the building had twisted out of line.

"This beam is no longer carrying the load it was designed to," Beck said, indicating that the top and bottom of the truss no longer line up.

As for the bowed-in walls, "we knew that in the beginning, but it's much worse now."

The original bowing could have been caused by a powerful downburst several years ago — a meteorological event that causes sudden, intense wind gusts — and could be worked around, he said.

But "it's now so far gone we'd have to straighten the steel structure," Beck said.

The engineer who has been working with the LEDC on the project confirmed Beck's suspicions that the building was compromised and presented a report to the city building department.

'Dangerous'

A report by engineer Robert Reinhart, of BillerReinhart Engineering Group, described the changes to the building after Hurricane Irma and compared the state of the steel overhead trusses in 2015, July this year and after the storm.

"BillerReinhart believes the structural capacity of the main steel roof truss girders has been substantially compromised, particularly considering the increased degree of lateral displacement and the introduction of lateral-torsional (twisting) displacement," the report concludes.

Steel has elastic properties, but the limits of that stretch and give have been exceeded — like how an overextended paperclip won't return to form — the report continued. This "results in an unpredictable structural performance. Compromised lateral stability has now escalated into a life safety concern and a dangerous condition."

Fixing the problem would be a "pretty extensive effort," Reinhart told The Ledger, which would essentially make the current structural trusses into ceiling decoration as the load would need to be transferred to a new steel skeleton.

The LEDC's plan for the building had intended to shore up the east and west walls with new steel structural elements, but had relied on the soundness of the now untrustworthy overhead trusses. The new support structure would be complex and expensive and its uniqueness would create some level of risk, he said.

"It seemed like a very daunting task to do," he added.

"It's heartbreaking to see," Reinhart said. "It's kind of a part of the history of the whole area, and I was certainly disappointed and heartbroken a hurricane kind of did it in. It performed well until Sept. 10 and 11."

A city building inspector agreed with the report.

"Given the degree of remediation required to restore the structure to a safe condition, and the uncertainty of such an undertaking, I recommend the former Cash Feed building at 502 E. Main St., Lakeland, FL be demolished," Lakeland Building Official Dan Gargas wrote.

Preservation board to decide

Lakeland's Historic Preservation Board, the city's independent authority on historic-district regulations, will need to approve the demolition.

Renovating old buildings can cause fires to erupt in owners' wallets, but the Historic Preservation Board has traditionally been skeptical about requests to demolish: Before buying old stock, owners should be aware of the risks.

Without commenting on the Cash Feed building in particular, Historic Preservation Board Liaison Emily Foster, the city employee who works with the commission-appointed board, said there are three things the board will consider before allowing the demolition:

• The architectural significance of the building itself.

• Its contribution to the historic district.

• And what will be built in its place.

The preservation ordinance does not have language to consider structural deterioration, and there's no consideration for "economic hardship," Foster said.

"However, that is part of the evidence that goes into presenting a case to the preservation board for demolition. The board will consider practical consideration for those things."

Beck, of the LEDC, said it is too early to say precisely what will go in its place, but a new structure would likely cover the same footprint of the existing building. After all, they've already paid an architect to design the inside of the project.

It may also pay homage, or mimic, its historical predecessor.

This has been a two-year project thus far, Beck said, and "literally, other than the designs on the inside, we're literally back to the drawing board."

Christopher Guinn can be reached at Christopher.Guinn@theledger.com or 863-802-7592. Follow him on Twitter @CGuinnNews.

• Letter to Real Estate & Transportation Committee from Lakeland City Attorney's Office

•Letter to LEDC: Post-Hurricane Irma Visual Structural Evaluation of Cash Feed Building

•Letter to LEDC: Recommendation to Demolish Cash Feed Building

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