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Article
Courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times
By Susan
Taylor Martin
Published
October 18, 2014
At 36 stories, Signature Place is St. Petersburg's
tallest condominium tower and one of its most striking.
It's also a building riddled with dozens of construction and design defects,
according to a new lawsuit.
The Signature Place Condominium
Association says it is spending "large sums'' of money to
repair problems ranging from cracks in exterior walls to
improper fire wall installation to excessive noise from
air-conditioning and heating systems.
At least some of the alleged defects were hidden by building
components and finishes and thus were not discovered by
owners "until after the purchase and occupancy of the
unit,'' said the lawsuit, filed last week in Pinellas County
Circuit Court.
Signature Place, at 175 First Street S, was announced in
2005 at the peak of the real estate boom and neared
completion just as the market collapsed in 2008. Plagued by
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Signature
Place has construction and design flaws, condo owners say.
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sales, developer Joel Cantor had to slash prices and finally
resorted to an auction to unload dozens of the tower's 244 units.
Prices, though, have recently rebounded in St. Petersburg's hot downtown
condo market.
Listed as defendants in the suit are Cantor's Gulf Atlantic Communities,
which is no longer active according to Florida corporate records, Lend Lease
(US) Construction, TLC Engineering and the architecture firm Perkins & Will.
Cantor could not be reached, and Lend Lease said it does not comment on
pending lawsuits. The other defendants did not respond to requests for
comment.
Among Signature Place's striking features are a six-story waterfall, said to
be the world's largest man-made waterfall, and a three-story penthouse known
as Glasshouse for its floor-to-ceiling windows.
In possible reference to Glasshouse, exhibits filed with the lawsuit cite
"improper construction of the penthouse unit allowing excessive noise from
cooling tower.''
Glasshouse is currently on the market for $2.599 million
The suit, which seeks damages in excess of $15,000, cites more than 100
other alleged construction and design defects including:
• Cracked and improperly applied stucco in "large areas'' of the exterior
walls, which has allowed water to leak into the interior.
• Improper installation of "back-to-back" plumbing in the walls separating
units.
• Tenant separation walls in many bedrooms and living rooms that tested
below the "specified Sound Transmission Class rating,'' meaning the walls
are thin enough that owners can hear people in other units.
• Improper installation of driveway pavers and doors on an "amenity'' deck.
• Failure to install access panels to electrical equipment for jacuzzi tubs
in the condo units.
The suit says Signature Place owners are being assessed to pay for repairs
though the amount was not disclosed.
If the allegations are true, Signature Place is not the only condo tower in
downtown St. Petersburg plagued with construction and design issues.
A decade ago, a rancorous debate over the high cost of repairing
deteriorating outer walls at the Bayfront Tower led to the abrupt turnover
of the condo association board. The 255-unit, 1970s-era building, home of
former governor and current gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, is
currently undergoing a $10 million renovation.
Developers of the Cloisters, a condo tower a few blocks farther north on
Beach Drive, had to deal with leaking windows, faulty plumbing and a
storm-sewer backup that flooded the lobby as the building neared completion
in 1999.
Signature Place received unwelcome attention in July when the Tampa Bay
Times reported that police had responded to numerous calls from and about
one condo owner who walked naked in the halls and had been involved in
drunken brawls. The man recently put his unit up for sale.
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