Following further inspection of the closed Abbot Manor building on April 8, the city deemed WestPac, Abbot Manor’s owner, in need of a plan from an architect or engineer sealed by with the State of Michigan Seal before repairs to the building could be made.
In late March, Abbot Manor was shut down and all residents were forced to vacate the building and find other housing after an earlier city inspection found 16 violations. Extensive water damage, black mold and falling drywall were among problems within the building.
During the April 8 inspection, Building and Code Administrator Glen Dempsey and other East Lansing officials walked through the buildings to further assess the damage to the building and sent a letter to WestPac representatives detailing the damage and need for engineering.
“As I walked through the building, it was quite clear why the building and its tenants were required to vacate the building,” Dempsey wrote in the letter.
Furthermore, Dempsey said the leaking roof, which caused the damage and caused the need to vacate the building, had not been properly maintained or replaced and was “past its useful life.”
A mere coincidence possibly, but days before the shutdown CS Roofing of Grass Lake paid $170 for a permit to begin roof work on Abbot Manor, according to an earlier article by the Lansing State Journal.
Also noted in Dempsey’s letter were numerous spots of moisture penetration, with penetration having occurred for “quite some time,” according to the letter. Some of the buildings’ floors were sagging or pitched, as was the roof deck.
The letter noted Abbot Manor’s foundation was underpinned and 129 piers were put in to help preserve the building’s structure in 2008. Dempsey further noted “structural elements will need to be addressed for rotten or deteriorated members that can no longer handle the loads as required by the building code.”
Water damage might have affected the electrical wiring, insulation, smoke alarms and drywall as well and will have to be replaced, according to Dempsey’s letter.
WestPac will also have to provide a moisture and mold report, “with remediation required to eliminate all areas damaged from the water,” according to the letter.
Dempsey also talked to WestPac representative Colleen Lewter on site when he inspected the building on Friday, telling her about the need to wait for engineering approval before work began on the building.
“It was Monday or Tuesday when I found out that the roofing company was loading the roof and they were going to start work on it,” Dempsey said during a phone interview. “I found out about that and I talked with Colleen Lewter and I said, ‘you really need to get me some engineering, you don’t want to put the roof on and have an issue with the structure itself.’”
Dempsey said Lewter was aware of the need for engineering the Friday of the inspection, but the roofing company was loading the roof and was ready to start work during the week.
It left the question of whether Lewter had alerted the roofing company to not go forward with work until engineering approval.
After reaching out to Lewter for comment she responded via email and said questions regarding Abbot Manor were to be directed to corporate. When told the question to be asked pertained to her she wrote back and asked what the question was.
The question, which asked if there was miscommunication between her and the city, had no response as of Wednesday morning.
