Pennoni

Scope Of Work

Opal Sands Resort is a 17-story, 380,000-sf premier hotel directly on the Gulf of Mexico in Clearwater Beach, Florida. The recipient of the 2016 ENR Southeast Regional Best Project , the Opal Sands Resort was born from the vision of the owner/developer, Ocean Properties, LTD (OPL). The owner desired a new flagship hotel to add to their portfolio of international resort hotels. The project had a few challenges to overcome, including exposure to Florida’s high hurricane wind loads, construction in multiple flood zones, and designing a concrete building on a site with loose beach sands. A wind tunnel test was of the utmost importance as it resulted in overall reduced costs as well as a more accurate design, including adjustments made around the base of the building where pedestrians would be affected. Any wall that is not a shear wall, stair, or elevator wall was designed to withstand wind forces but must fail or break-away under storm-driven wave action, so the two lower floors of the building are open parking. Pennoni provided structural design, construction administration and threshold inspections.