Morabito Consultants provided structural engineering services for the award-winning remediation of Dolphin Towers Condominium, a 12-story residential high-rise constructed over a three-story parking garage and pool deck in Sarasota, Florida. After the fourth-level concrete transfer slab failed around several residential tower and garage columns in June 2010, the building was closed until comprehensive structural repairs could be completed.
Morabito Consultants developed a value engineering solution to strengthen the existing condominium structure in accordance with Florida Building Code requirements while saving the condominium owners several million dollars. The repair program included strengthening the failed fourth-level transfer slab, installing post-tensioned concrete drop panels and a bonded concrete overlay, enlarging overstressed garage columns, adding new reinforced concrete shear walls, and reinforcing foundation elements with new helical piles and enlarged pile caps.
The high-rise concrete repair required extensive structural analysis, field coordination, and repair detailing to address gravity loads, wind lateral loads, punching shear deficiencies, and foundation overstress conditions within the existing structure. Morabito Consultants’ design approach included finite element analysis, column and slab evaluations, load transfer strategies, temporary shoring coordination, and targeted structural strengthening measures to restore the building and satisfy governing code requirements.
This nationally recognized condominium remediation project earned Morabito Consultants the 2015 NCSEA Excellence in Structural Engineering Award for Outstanding Remediation Project in the Forensic / Renovation / Retrofit / Rehabilitation category. The project also received the ICRI Award of Excellence in High-Rise Structures and was recognized by the Post-Tensioning Institute for its innovative concrete repair and strengthening solutions.
The completed remediation restored the structural integrity of Dolphin Towers Condominium and allowed residents to return after a complex, multi-year recovery effort. The project remains a significant example of Morabito Consultants’ expertise in structural failure investigation, value engineering, high-rise concrete repair, post-tensioned concrete strengthening, and complex condominium remediation.