ST. PETERSBURG - After two years of public wrangling over proposed repairs, the atmosphere at Bayfront Tower has become more cordial, says the new leadership at 1 Beach Drive SE. 

Work also has begun to determine once and for all the extent of damage to the building's exterior walls and the best way to repair them, said Rex Brasell, who was elected president of the condominium's board of directors in September.

Brasell said crews began conducting a forensic wall survey of "a stack of 20 apartments" on the building's southwest section in mid December. 

The study includes cutting observation holes across panels in the building's 41/2-foot-wide curtain walls so that engineers, contractors and insurance representatives can inspect inside the walls, he said. Brasell added that he expects to present a report to residents about the investigation and costs for repairs by spring or earlier.

The past year has been a tumultuous one at the downtown high-rise, one of the city's premier residential buildings. A dispute over proposed repairs to the building's deteriorating exterior walls erupted into a bitter recall that resulted in a practically new board taking office last summer.

Residents first learned that moisture had seeped into their upscale, 29-story building and rusted steel studs that hold the outside walls in place about two years ago. 

An engineer hired by the old condominium board reported that the building - completed in 1975 - was structurally sound, but that sections of its exterior walls, from the eighth to the 27th floor, would have to be replaced. A group of residents believed that damage to the walls might be far less and that not all the condominium's exterior walls would have to be repaired as had been proposed.

In June, members of a group calling themselves the Concerned Owners Committee filed an extensive complaint with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The state found several violations, which the condominium board has addressed.