The Board of Directors has approved a bid and signed a contract with Residential Construction, LLC to repair and strengthen the support of 31 balconies on the building. The work is needed to address the weakened structural issues identified by structural engineers at 4SE, Inc, in “ A Report on the Balconies of The Fort Sumter House” (July 2009). We expect this work will start in mid to late August.
These balconies, like the 8 porches on the West side of the building repaired in 2010, are identified as limited common areas and are the responsibility of the Association. We financed the repair of the West side of the building from the Reserve Account and we plan to do the same with this project. However, this approximately $200,000.00 project will deplete the Reserve account to below acceptable levels and we will need to assess the owners in 2012 to replenish it.
The July 2009 report cited some extreme deterioration in a thoroughly inspected porch and a balcony. We sent a letter to all homeowners in December 2009 communicating our concern and asked homeowners not to use the balconies and porches, or if they had to, exercise extreme caution.
This is a safety issue that has to be dealt with.
Board of Directors, Fort Sumter House Association