Interesting Building Construction Data
The Tunick Building offers the latest technological advances in hurricane protection, security,
and earthquake protection. The building overall exceeds local and Dade County, Florida codes, the
benchmark for hurricane code requirements.
Location
The site overlooks St. Thomas Harbor on the Eastern edge of Downtown Charlotte Amalie and is
approximately 500 yards from the Federal Courthouse. A stairway was designed to exit the building
from the lowest floor of the parking garage onto the sidewalk of De Beltjen Road leading directly
to the courthouse. The airport is located ten to fifteen minutes away.
Construction
The building consists of five stories of construction with two covered parking levels and three
office levels, the ground floor having uncovered parking level with leasable office space.
The super structure of the building is a steel structure on
concrete footings resting on bedrock. The exterior of the building consists of steel stud walls
with an exterior of dur-a-rock or synthetic high strength plaster. The design of the building is
traditional with hip roofs and arched windows, but modern with two elevators directly connecting
office space to parking spaces. The overall structure meets or exceeds all applicable building
and protection codes.
Hurricane Protection
The building utilizes aluminum storefront windows with thick gage walls and laminated glass
9/16" thick, which meets Dade County requirements. The exterior walls are constructed of
thick gage metal studs at 16" center covered with 5/8" thick plywood, which is then in turn
covered with a 1/2"" thick cement board. The walls are designed to meet a lateral load of
105 pounds per square foot of pressure, which exceeds the 77 pounds per square foot acceptable
level. The roof is designed as a hip roof with a 5-in-12 pitch, which is the recommended pitch
from FEMA. The roofing consists of heavy 22 gage metal standing high rib roofing that is attached
with a machine crimped edge. The crimp support is welded to the roof purlins rather than screwed
or bolted, giving it unprecedented strength. The eave support is directly attached to the eave
beam and a 12 gage metal trim piece is screwed from the eave support to the exterior of the top
wall, giving the building an air tight and watertight connection.
In addition to storm protection, a 350 KW generator with a
10 day fuel backup has been installed with an automatic transfer switch, giving the building
uninterrupted power.
Earthquake Protection
The steel superstructure was designed to meet the earthquake requirements of the Caribbean Basin,
which is equal to that of San Francisco.
Security
The building is wired for any security system that might be utilized. There is only one
vehicular entry into the building and this entry will be gated. The two vehicular exits are one
way, and due to a 7' -0" high headroom maximum, trucks can not enter beneath the building.
The ground floor has three exits, but only one entrance serves as a main lobby.
Water
A cistern has been built to catch the rain water off of the roof. In addition, the building is
connected to the municipal water system.
Parking
Three levels of parking have been incorporated into the building plan. Covered parking occurs on
the lower two floors with uncovered parking at the ground level offices. The parking space exceeds
local requirements by 30%.
A.D.A
All requirements of the American Disabilities Act have been met. Each floor is accessible by
elevator, and the fire exit is handicap accessible. The fire exits both have an area of refuge
where a wheelchair occupant could wait for rescue within the fire rated enclosure of the stairs.
Fire Safety
The National Life Safety code book does not require that the building be sprinklered or have a
standpipe system. The owners have decided to exceed these requirements and install a dry
standpipe system allowing the local fire department to connect their water trucks to the exterior
of the building and their hoses to the interior. In addition, an audible and visual strobe light
fire alarm system has been installed and can be directly connected to the security system for
immediate contact to the fire department.
In every aspect the building exceeds code requirements and
additionally is a well designed building offering incredible views of what St. Thomas has to
offer.
Building Statistics
|
Total weight of building
|
7,456,000 lbs
|
|
Steel
|
896,000 lbs
|
|
Miscellaneous materials
|
80,000 lbs
|
|
Concrete
|
6,480,000 lbs
|
|
|
= 1,600 cubic yards
|
|
|
= enough to pour a road from St. Thomas to St. John
|
Owner
M&S St. Thomas Realty Associates, LLC.
Architect
Mike de Haas, De Haas & Associates
Construction Manager
Bob Schmidt, Zenith Development Corporation.
|
|
|
