Ocean Tower problems prompt $125M lawsuit

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND -- Tony Domit dreamed of building the most luxurious high-rise condominium on the Texas Gulf Coast -- and he planned to build that dream on South Padre Island, just north of the city limits.

The president of McAllen-based Domit Construction and Development LLC established Ocean Tower LP and solicited investors to help finance the construction of a 31-story high-rise that would contain 151 condominiums, four high-speed elevators, a fitness center and a spa.

His next step was to contract with the most highly qualified companies he could find to overcome the problems of building skyscrapers on the Island.

What he has ended up with, though, is a project that some have come to refer to as the "Leaning Tower of Padre Island."

The first sign of trouble arose when the building was barely seven stories high, according to a lawsuit Ocean Tower filed June 25in the 357th state District Court in Cameron County.

The suit names as defendants all three of Ocean Tower's contractors: engineering firms Raba-Kistner Consultants Inc., based in San Antonio, and Datum Engineering Inc., based in Austin, as well as Delaware based Zachry Construction Corp.

Ocean Tower accuses the firms of fraud and/or gross negligence and is seeking $125 million in damages. Spokesmen for each of the three defendants declined to comment on the pending litigation when contacted for this story.

Ocean Tower's lawsuit asserts there were "obvious measurement deviations ... which should have alerted a contractor" things were not going according to plan.

"Instead, the contractor completed 24 more imperfect floors in order to earn millions of more dollars," according to the document.

The skyscraper has settled into the sand 8 to 16 inches, the lawsuit alleges. By comparison, the attached garages have experienced only minimal settling. The west garage sank 4-8 inches, and the east one only 1-2 inches.

Beams cracked, bent, and broke because of the uneven settling, Ocean Tower claims in the lawsuit, and construction was halted when cracks appeared in the garage walls.

Rumors referring to the project as the "Leaning Tower of Padre Island" quickly spread across South Padre.

A spokesman for Domit said last month that engineers were studying the problem and were certain a solution would soon be found.

Now that it has been found, however, Ocean Tower puts the cost of repairing the damage at $20 million to 25 million. Project delays of six to nine months, along with the negative publicity, are worth another $100 million, according to the lawsuit.

"In order to return the building to its proper design and function, the (four-story) parking garage will need to be detached, and the foundation will need to be reinforced (with 200-foot piers)," the lawsuit states.

"This will make the building completely stable and safe."