In preparation for a catastrophic event at Mirabella, your board in 2016 sought proposals from several entities to better prepare for such an event. Being in a hurricane prone area, we knew it was not a matter of “if” but “when” a storm would hit. We have been lucky that it has been 16 years since a major event occurred. After numerous interviews, the board elected to engage the Palmisano, Carr, Dupont-LeCorgne team to count on, and they were on site the very next day after the storm.
We realize the heightened anxiety of all in our association, and we have tried to communicate as best we could considering the great number of hours we have had to spend directing and organizing to assist in getting the project moving forward. Mirabella was hit harder than we originally thought . . . or than it originally appeared. We had considerable water penetration in many units and considerable damage to our mechanical equipment on the ground and roof, as well as the elevators. The board has been advised that even though some equipment can run now, it is still damaged and has been recommended for replacement due to the type of damage sustained. A shortened service life is considered “damage”.
We have been advised that our team is nearing a point where they can present a budget to the board to continue on with repairs of the association property. Their budget should be close, but this is an ongoing process of discovery. As recently as a few days ago, they discovered additional damages; and now with many units’ contents being moved out for better assessment and removal of damaged finishes, more items may be uncovered.
We ask everyone to use this website as a communication tool. It will greatly help us by cutting down on the amount of time being spent on duplicate communications. Daily questions by email to the board is near overwhelming, and we have to focus on keeping our restoration and insurance claim efforts our highest priority. We expect this to be a major insurance claim. The association does not have the immediate funds on hand to pay for this work and, as such, is working toward interim financing from a local bank in concert with levying a homeowners’ special assessment. Most of the costs should be covered by our association insurance coverage with the sure exception of our 2% deductible of approximately $450,000, plus our interest expense, and payment to our public adjuster. We have requested an advance from our insurance company and are hopeful that we will receive something. However, we don’t know when and if that will be. If we are fortunate to receive the advance, we will still have to self-fund until the claim is resolved.
We know there will be many questions that everyone will want answered, and our desire is to answer them as best we can. However, there are many variables and moving parts, and as such there will be questions we either cannot or do not want to answer because we do not want to say something that may be misinterpreted or inaccurate. In my experience in dealing with insurance claims, you need to be spot on accurate and fight hard to obtain the proper settlement. This is why the board has engaged a Public Adjuster who understands the insurance claims process and works on our behalf. The reconstruction team of Palmisano, Carr, and Dupont-LeCorgne is a team that has worked together for many years on both insurance rebuilds and regular construction projects. They know how to do the job correctly and how to work together to assemble a claim for the best chance of success. When we engaged them 3 years ago in preparation for an event such as this, we considered success as getting restored to a pre-loss condition as quickly as possible with the lowest assessment possible and recovering the full amount of insurance proceeds due our association from our insurance carrier.
This is a process and, unfortunately, will not happen overnight. We will share a schedule with you soon. It has been 30 days since the storm, and we have the building environmentally stabilized, reports being prepared, some areas demolished, containment zones in place, furniture being moved out, and damaged equipment soon to be ordered for replacement.
Your board greatly appreciates your understanding and support. We will get through this in time and be able to return to a fully restored Mirabella.