Flaws in doomed high-rise flew under the city's radar

Hundreds of people were living in the McGuire apartment building when the owner announced in April that the building was verging on dangerous and would be demolished by next year.

News that the 25-story building had become so compromised — corroded cables, cracked concrete and other structural flaws — came as a shock to occupants of the 272-unit building and the businesses that had taken root there.

Also in the dark: the city of Seattle.

Until about four weeks ago, Seattle officials said, the city's building department knew little of the problems at the McGuire Apartments, even though the owners applied for a city permit in 2008 to make more than $2.1 million worth of concrete repairs, and another $2.1 million in seismic upgrades the following year.

"It really is up to the owner to maintain the building and keep us in the loop," said Bryan Stevens, spokesman for the city's Department of Planning and Development.

That the city would be unaware of potential hazards in a building sitting in the midst of Belltown may come as a surprise to homeowners who have tangled with city code-enforcement officers on everything from junk cars to unmown grass.

But nothing in state law or city ordinance requires building owners to notify Seattle's inspectors about problems once the building is completed, even if those problems pose a safety risk to people living and working in the building, city attorney Patrick Downs said.

That means that unless there's a high-profile failure — such as the recent shearing of a facade at a downtown restaurant, where falling bricks injured three people, the city has few avenues for learning about problems once it signs off on the final project, Downs said.

"It's the responsibility of the builder and the design professional to do an excellent job," said attorney Bob Goff of Goff & DeWalt, a Seattle/Gig Habor firm specializing in construction defects. "The city is not the guarantor of the adequacy of the construction."

And while the city's planning department considers itself a "safety net," it never picked up on the fact that the "post-tensioning" cables had not been inspected to ensure they were sealed properly. Further, the private inspection firm hired to monitor the construction said the city never required that the cable waterproofing be checked.

Like other cities, Seattle relies mostly on complaints or, in this case, on voluntary reports from the building's owner to learn about problems that violate building or safety codes, Stevens said.

The building is owned by Carpenter's Tower, a joint venture of the Carpenters Union, Local 131, and the Multi-Employer Property Trust.

Carpenter's advised the city of its plan to tear down the 25-story structure after receiving reports from a forensic-engineering firm in late March, a company spokesman said.

The owner is suing Bellevue's McCarthy Building Companies, which served as the general contractor, and Seattle's Hewitt Architects, the building's designer, alleging negligence and failure to adhere to industry standards.

McCarthy disputes the claim and is trying to convince the city the building can and should be fixed.

The planned destruction of a 9-year-old high-rise due to construction defects is unprecedented in Seattle and most of the construction world. The most severe problems, the owners claim, are improperly placed reinforcements and corrosion on the post-tensioning cables, which run through the concrete floors and give them added strength.

The cables were stretched, locked into place and clipped, but the ends were not properly protected against moisture from the outside.

City inspectors usually are responsible for checking construction and remodeling to help ensure it is done according to building and safety codes.

But for specialized types of construction, including post-tensioning work, the city relies on third-party inspectors. Those inspectors are hired and paid for by the owner, and approved by the city, to ensure the building is constructed according to plans approved by the city.

Third-party monitoring has been required since 1996 on high-rises built with that type of steel-reinforced concrete construction, Stevens said.

Before construction began at the McGuire, the city met with the general contractor, the structural engineer and the inspection agency in December 1999 to lay out how the construction would proceed, the types of inspections required, and the frequency with which the third-party inspector would report to the city on problems and progress in the building's construction.

Building plans approved by the city indicate that the steel tendons would be rustproofed. Those plans were reviewed during the preconstruction meeting, Stevens said. But the city's record of the preconstruction meeting does not specifically mention rustproofing the cables.

The notes state only that the third-party inspector should verify that the cables were "protected" by specified methods and materials. But no method or material was specified.

"Once construction begins, the third-party inspector is responsible for overseeing the work of the building or the general contractor on site," Stevens said, noting that the city acts as a "safety net to oversee that work."

The inspector, Mayes Testing Engineers of Lynnwood, filed regular reports — sometimes daily — with the city planning department to provide a record of what was done and to flag the city on any deviations or problems. Mayes' spokesman said the firm was not required to check for rustproofing and proper grout.

"Applying the anti-rust material is a very simple, basic step, not much more complex than coating the area with a spray can," Mayes spokesman Mark Firmani said.

"Our guys acknowledge they should have stopped the process and visually inspected/double-checked that the contractor followed the plans and applied the anti-rust stuff," he said. "They didn't, but had the contractor done that this wouldn't be an issue."

None of Mayes' reports to the city on the McGuire mention rustproofing — or lack of it during construction, according to project records reviewed by The Seattle Times. The city also did not note or order corrections based on the absence of that information from Mayes' reports, according to Stevens, the planning department spokesman.

"We get reports on a regular basis — see if problems came up during construction, and in most cases, will identify a solution," Stevens said. "The assumption is they're doing what's expected of them and what's required of them."

The city offers third-party inspectors a check list to use as the project progresses. That check list includes waterproofing cables, Stevens said. But inspectors can ignore it and use their own checklist. That's what appears to have happened with the McGuire, he said.

The Belltown high-rise was barely 3 years old when rust stains appeared on the balconies, and concrete began flaking off the facade.

There would be more red flags over the next four years: A 3- to 4-foot-long chunk sheared off the facade; steel cables that give the building strength were rusting; more than $4.6 million in concrete repairs and seismic upgrades had to be made.

Then, about four weeks ago, the building's owner told the city the high-rise was so structurally compromised that the owner had begun paying tenants to move out, and intended to destroy the building rather than pay to fix it. It has not applied for the permit.

Brian Urback, vice president of Kennedy Associates, which represents the building's owner, said the company informed the city soon after learning about the seriousness and extent of the problems in March.

The city is researching everything that happened with the building to see if there are things the city should do differently, Stevens said.

And, now that it's finally in the loop, he said, "We have an interest in making sure the building is removed or repaired by the time the building is unsafe."

Susan Kelleher: 206-464-2508 or skelleher@seattletimes.com