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Dive brief:
- Part of a 10-story mixed-use project underway in Rapid City, South Dakota, began to tilt Thursday, forcing a halt to work and the evacuation of nearby buildings.
- Block 5 is a more than $80 million mixed-use complex that will offer 130 luxury lofts and 117 guest rooms. Hyatt Place Hotel and 5,000 square feet of retail space. Lloyd Cos., a developer based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.’ construction division, Lloyd Construction, broken ground on the project in June, according to the firm.
- On November 30, construction workers noticed north lift bar it had moved and was tilting south, according to local news outlet KELO. Authorities evacuated the nearby area, along with neighboring buildings. The evacuation was lifted on Friday.
Diving knowledge:
Luke Jessen, Lloyd’s vice president of development, said in a statement that a product failed in the corner of one of the elevator shafts, causing the problem. The location of the failure point caused the tower to move 1 inch at its base.
“This is an isolated product and sequencing issue, which will be safely resolved by an erection subcontractor in the coming days by deconstructing the shaft,” the statement said.
As supply chain disruptions forced contractors to make widespread material substitutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, construction lawyers have warned that construction defects could become a problem in future projects, even years later.
Other vertical structures have shown high-profile tilts in recent years. San Francisco’s Millennium Tower needed $100 million fitting to correct a tilt that was so severe that the balls of one owner’s unit rolled across the floor. In New York, 161 Maiden Lane – called the Leaning Tower of Lower Manhattan – it has been stopped for years, due to a tilt towards the north. And officials in Bologna, Italy, were preparing Friday a 900-year-old tower to fall.
However, the Rapid City tower stands solidly at its base, which is fully intact, according to Jessen’s statement. The developer added that the interruption of the project will not be long.
“We anticipate that this will not result in a substantial delay in overall development,” Jessen said in the statement.
