Report: Arlington hazards can be mitigated pending renovation

A structural study of the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa the hotel commissioned in September says hazards the city has identified can be mitigated until the downtown landmark undergoes the $30 million renovation its new owner announced earlier this year.

Interim measures prescribed in the report Cromwell Architect Engineers provided the hotel last week include hanging netting and scaffolding and fastening tires to roofs to catch and absorb dislodged pieces of the building’s exterior. A copy of the report was released Monday.

“We cannot guarantee that pieces won’t fall off of the building and onto the sidewalk or low roofs and be a hazard to the occupants for this building or any other building,” Joe Hilliard, Cromwell’s director of engineering, wrote in the report. “In our professional opinion, the building in its current condition with the steps taken as recommended in this report can be safely occupied until the renovations and or repairs are made in the next couple of years.”

Sky Capital Group LP CEO Al Rajabi told The Sentinel-Record in September he’s planning a $30 million renovation financed by tax credits and the help of a corporate hotel partner. The company purchased the hotel, Wade Building and several out parcels in July for $7 million, which included $1.9 million for the hotel’s personal property.

Information the hotel’s tax representative presented at its property tax appeal in September said $5.2 million in repairs are needed to keep the hotel open, including $500,000 for new roofs, $1.5 million in repairs to the hotel’s two

cupolas and $3.2 million to seal, repair and replace the stucco exterior.

The repairs were listed in an engineering report Rajabi authorized prior to acquiring the hotel. The city cited the same report in notices of unsafe conditions it issued the hotel in August and September. The first notice threatened to close the property if repairs weren’t completed by Nov. 8. It was ultimately withdrawn and replaced by a subsequent notice that required the hotel to provide a repair plan by Sunday.

“The city is very pleased to have received the report from Cromwell on behalf of (the Arlington),” City Attorney Brian Albright wrote in an email. “We look forward to the continued working relationship with Mr. Rajabi and his team to restore the Arlington.”

John Baker, the attorney the hotel hired to represent it in the Board of Zoning Adjustments appeal it filed last month, sent Albright an email Monday that said safety measures outlined in Cromwell’s report should be in place by Friday.

Baker indicated the hotel plans to proceed with the appeal. The appeal hearing scheduled Oct. 25 was postponed until Nov. 15 at the request of the hotel, Albright said.

The hotel argues that repairs mandated by the city fall under the property maintenance code, which the appeal said doesn’t authorize the city to compel a professional evaluation of the building. Such an examination can only be ordered if a building has sustained “substantial structural damage,” the appeal said, noting the September notice of unsafe conditions doesn’t indicate if such damage is present at the Arlington.

Baker warned the city in September that the hotel is considering legal action, urging the city in a letter to preserve records that may be relevant to a potential lawsuit.

The email he sent Albright Monday said the hotel commissioned the Cromwell report “on its own volition” and shared it with the city in “furtherance of settlement discussions between Sky and the city of Hot Springs in hopes of avoiding the federal court litigation that was the subject of my Sept. 26 letter to you and (City Manager) David Frasher.”

The report said the likelihood of pieces from the exterior of the Central Avenue wing’s seventh floor falling and posing a safety hazard during the next 18 to 24 months was “very low” in the area above the porch roof and “low” in the area above the valet entrance.

It recommended hanging netting or scaffolding above the valet drive as an interim solution until renovations begin in earnest.

The report said pieces from the exterior of the Fountain Street wing’s seventh floor have fallen off in the past as a result of water penetration and expansion during freezing weather. In the short term, it recommended removing loose exterior pieces and sealing the surface with mortar.

The report noted the exterior of the hotel’s Central Avenue side has more problems than the south-facing Fountain Street wing.

“It is suspected that (the Central Avenue) side is in worse condition due to the variations in the amount of sunlight in relation to the Fountain (Street) side,” the report said.

That pattern was evident on the two cupolas, with the Fountain Street dome holding up better than its Central Avenue counterpart. The report said stucco and concrete fragments have the potential to fall from both, but tests conducted by dropping tennis balls showed debris would land below on the sloped tile roof.

It recommended fastening tires to the roof to cushion it from falling debris. The same was recommended for the roof below the Central Avenue wing’s 11th floor, where loose pieces of the roof overhang could fall through the ballroom roof.

The report said falling pieces from the exterior of the front-facing part of the 11th floor would land on the lobby roof and pose no danger.

“The lobby roof is capable of supporting the falling pieces without concern for the occupants below,” the report said.