Consultant raises concerns about ramp's (in)ability to handle housing addition
Rochester’s new $31.4 million parking ramp may not be structurally sound enough to handle the construction of affordable housing above it.
Upon further review, a consultant has found “that the design and engineering are possibly not capable of supporting the lateral loads (and possibly vertical loads) needed to build housing on top of the ramp.”
Among the deficiencies outlined by the firm, Walker Consultants:
Superstructure fire rating was identified to be non-compliant with code requirements of stated building type.
Slab and beam reinforcing bars are not up to code at isolated locations.
No provisions for lateral load accommodation of future expansion of the structure are provided.
[You can read the full executive summary here.]
The City of Rochester emphasized that the report from Walker Consultants is preliminary and that more testing still needs to be done.
Ramp No. 6, which opened earlier this year, was purported to have been designed to handle the addition of 10 levels of housing above the easternmost portion of the structure.
That led the city council to approve a proposal in September from CommonBond Communities, a St. Paul-based nonprofit, to develop 127 affordable housing units above the ramp.
The proposal is now on hold, however, as the city looks to understand what additional design and engineering work may need to be done before any vertical expansion can occur. In the meantime, the city emphasizes that there are no safety concerns with the ramp in its current state.
“The City of Rochester is doing our due diligence at this point and the thing we do know, is that the ramp is safe for its intended use as a parking facility today,” City Administrator Steve Rymer said Tuesday in a written statement. “Some additional work may be required to support the housing and we are taking the necessary steps needed to better understand our options.”
The city has engaged Walker to conduct a further review. We will continue to follow this story and share additional updates as they become available.
As for CommonBond, the organization told us they remain committed to the project as long as it’s “structurally and financially feasible.”
Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.
Cover photo: Parking Ramp No. 6 / William Forsman
