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Fort Lauderdale staff outlines structural fixes, unresolved shear-wall issue at new police HQ; city fronting repairs
Summary
City staff told the advisory panel that roof deflection at the new police headquarters discovered in March 2024 was driven by an unaccounted-for weight change from steel to concrete; third-party reviews and structural enhancements have largely arrested movement but WJE’s phase-2 report identified a key unresolved shear-wall issue that may require additional testing or an off-the-shelf fix and could delay occupancy and increase costs.
Anthony Gallardo, director of development services, gave the committee a technical briefing on a structural deflection discovered last year at the new police headquarters and the city’s ongoing remedial work.
Gallardo said the problem arose when the design changed from steel to heavier precast-concrete panels and the increased weight at a cantilevered roof area caused deflection that eventually prevented window units from fitting. "That's really what caused the issue," he said.
The city has pursued a phased response: initial fixes and shoring while engineers from the engineer-of-record (TT), the architect (A‑E firm), and third parties (including WJE) evaluated the building. Gallardo described completed interventions — column enhancements, foundation micropiles and caps, and added upturned roof beams — and said the city is monitoring movements that have dropped from weekly surveys to monthly and then quarterly checks.
WJE’s phase-2 draft grouped 16 findings into life-safety, serviceability and documentation items. Gallardo said most items are resolved or pending permit/documentation updates, but the principal unresolved issue is shear-wall capacity and how partially grouted masonry walls tie into slabs. WJE recommended either an off-the-shelf shear solution or extensive testing and modeling of the alternative ties used in Florida construction.
"They said there was no imminent danger of the building falling down," Gallardo said when summarizing WJE’s life-safety assessment, but he emphasized several fixes are required before the building can be occupied for full use.
On costs and liability, Gallardo said the city is fronting the repair work but expects to recoup deflection-related costs under the architect’s errors-and-omissions coverage. "We're going to recoup that from AECOM through their errors and emissions," he said. He estimated deflection-related expenditures at roughly $4.1–$4.5 million "right now," while noting the figure could increase as further work or testing is scoped.
Gallardo also described sequencing constraints: the city cannot demolish the old police building until radio equipment is relocated to a new or interim tower base, and abatement for lead and asbestos must be addressed before any demolition.
Next steps: complete fiber-reinforced wrapping of columns, finish roof-beam work, resolve the shear-wall connection question either through testing or by choosing a standard off-the-shelf retrofit, and scope schedule impacts — staff estimated a few months of potential delay depending on remediation paths.
The committee asked to schedule site visits; Gallardo offered individual visits on Fridays to avoid quasi-judicial/meeting-notice complications and to coordinate with Moss and ADCon personnel.
