Cover Story

"It's Part of Everything We Do"
Kraft Construction Co. has helped reshape Florida's west coast through teamwork, attention to details and with knowledge of the damage hurricanes can do.

As with so much of the building and construction industry in the Southeast United States, hurricanes have had a powerful and lasting influence on Kraft Construction Co., Naples, FL. In 1960, it was Hurricane Donna. One of the all-time great hurricanes, Donna struck the middle Florida Keys on September 10 with Category 4 intensity. It then curved northeastward crossing the Florida Peninsula before moving into eastern North Carolina (Category 3) and the New England states (Category 3 on Long Island, NY, and Categories 1 and 2 elsewhere). It is the only hurricane of record to produce hurricane-force winds in Florida, the Mid-Atlantic states and New England. With reported 128-mph sustained winds and gusts to 150 mph across Sombrero Key, Donna was responsible for 50 deaths in the United States and $387 million in damage.

In the wake of Donna’s damage, there was resurgence in building in southern Florida. Of course homes and lives had to be put back together again, but so too did schools, office buildings and commercial structures. It was in these years following Hurricane Donna that George F. Kraft founded the company that bears his name. Since then, hurricanes such as Andrew in 1992 and the threat of hurricanes have been constantly on the minds of construction management companies like Kraft Construction and, with new state building codes going into effect two years ago, have changed the way these structures are built.
P. Thomas Abraham, senior vice president of construction, has been with Kraft Construction Co. for 13 years and has been dealing with hurricane protection since the beginning. He admits, however, that today things are different, “Before the new code, it was optional. Now it has to be impact glass or hurricane shutters. There’s no option to do neither like there used to be.”

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
Kraft Construction will do well over $300 million in projects this year, mostly in Collier and Lee counties. Those projects include five schools currently under construction and a high school ready to break ground. The company also is working on a $40 million to $50 million hospital addition. But of its total volume, 55 to 60 percent is in high-rise condominiums.

Two of its latest condominium projects are 25-story towers—Belize and Veracruz—on Cape Marco, Marco Island. On these projects, Kraft Construction Co. is working with WCI Communities, Inc., one of the largest condominium developers in the state. At nearly one million square feet each, these two high-rises are $93 million and $92.5 million projects, respectively, and each features more than $1 million in accordion hurricane shutters on expansive balconies facing the Gulf of Mexico.

Typical of these projects, hurricane protection takes more than one form. The fronts, or street sides, of these buildings have fewer and smaller balconies if any, which allow for different options. “The front of Belize has impact glass on it,” Abraham explains. “The back, which is the water side that has the big, expansive balconies, they have the hurricane shutters on it. Not only does the hurricane shutter protect from storm damage, but also when you load up your balcony with all your chairs and tables and plants, unit owners don’t like to pull that all in at the end of the season.”

Belize and Veracruz feature curved balconies that can stretch 40 to 50 feet. For these, roll-down shutters wouldn’t work and so accordion shutters from High Velocity were specified—even then, a new system had to be developed and approved. “The conventional accordion shutter brings all kinds of complications. For example, ease of operation—we have to plan on a 70-year-old lady that’s going to be living in these condos, even it if may be only two out of 148 units—the ease of operation has to be suited for the smaller, elderly folk as well as younger residents. These are not motorized. For an accordion shutter on these expansive balconies you don’t have a single-piece track; it’s jointed. You can envision pulling and pushing a shutter—that track installation has to be absolutely perfect, seamless. That’s one of their big challenges. High Velocity says it’s in development and someday they are going to surprise us and have a motorized accordion system, which everybody will be thrilled about.”

One of the advantages of using the accordion shutter system is the relatively small stackback required. When open, a full view is accorded. Another advantage is aesthetics. “High Velocity has custom colored these shutter systems to match the building colors so in the event that everybody has them closed in the summer months when the building is empty you don’t lose your architectural features of the building,” says Abraham.

Once the according shutters were installed in Belize, it was no longer a question for the developers what to install in Veracruz. “Believe it or not, they had bids of lesser amounts for other shutters,” Abraham says. “Once they saw what was going into Belize, they couldn’t very well offer Veracruz clients a lesser shutter. They believe that much in that shutter system.”

The hurricane protection built into these towers literally runs from top to bottom, starting with the roofing and following down to the foundation. “It’s part of everything we do down here,” Abraham explains. “Just like California builds toward earthquakes, the Midwest builds toward tornadoes, we build towards hurricanes.

“The Belize building, for example, has a 110-foot piling underneath the building to keep the building from moving in the event that we get a storm surge—a 25-foot wall of water coming at it.

“We have breakaway slabs below flood plain, which is a code issue. The building structure itself will not bend. The parts that are supposed to give way are designed to give way in a storm surge so after the storm’s gone the superstructure is intact.”

IT’S ALL GOOD
Construction and hurricane protection necessarily go hand-in-hand in Florida, but it’s especially so in coastal communities. Abraham sees nothing but good news for both industries for years to come. Looking ahead he sees Collier County having five to seven years of new high-rise construction before older buildings start to be recycled. And Lee and Sarasota counties to the north currently are “on fire” with high-rise construction. “Obviously it’s because the economy is doing well and people have money to spend,” Abraham notes.

Likewise, he sees no downturn in sight for the storm shutter market. “The east coast of Florida is probably hotter for hurricane shutters,” Abraham admits. He notes, too, that beyond meeting state code, developers have strong insurance incentives to include storm protection in projects. In his own custom home, for example, he was able to receive a 25 percent discount on insurance for installing impact-resistant glass and could have received another 15 percent discount if he chose hurricane shutters.

As the awareness of hurricane protection requirements and the volume of that business have increased, Abraham says shutter manufacturers and subcontractors have gotten more sophisticated and their products generally have become far more architecturally acceptable. “What you would have seen 10 years ago prior to Hurricane Andrew compared to the types of products being offered today in their adaptability to be used in high-premium units are far more acceptable architecturally,” he says.

There is one serious challenge facing storm shutter dealers, however. Many single-family custom homes in Naples have pre-cast stone wraps on all their windows and doors, Abraham says, which makes mounting a hurricane shutter a major challenge. But from a general contractor’s point of view, the hurricane shutter industry has just gotten better at what it does. “They’ve gotten more secure. They went above and beyond offering additional layers of protection,” he adds.

Abraham offers this advice to developers and contractors: “You must deal with a reputable dealer and a reputable company, a company that has the technical expertise to actually know what they are doing.”