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Home My WebLink About420 E. 9th Street-Cromwell Report 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com 6/13/23 Mr. Joe Rantisi Stephens Real Estate Investments LLC 111 Center Street Little Rock, AR, 72201 jrantisi@Stephens.com RE: 420 East 9th Street - Structural Study Assessment Report CAE project number: 2023-109 Joe, The following is our report from our assessment of 420 East 9th Street in Little Rock, AR. Thursday, June 8th, 2023. Existing Building: The existing building is currently a boarded up two-story wood framed residential building. Per the county assessor the structure was built in 1920 and has approximately 3500 square feet of living space. At the time of our site visit the building was unoccupied and boarded up with plywood. The team on the site visit used screw guns to remove the screws holding the plywood to the openings. The plywood and screws were reinstalled by the crew after finishing the assessment. See photos 1 thru 3 for exterior photos of the building. Study: The study consisted of a site visit on Thursday, June 8th by Nick Duplantis, structural designer, and Joe Hilliard, PE, senior structural engineer. The team was on site from approximately 9:30am until 11am. The team accessed the following areas of the building: 1. Lower Level: Three (3) apartments on the lower level of the building, two in the front of the building and one on the one-story attachment on the west side. The two apartments in the back of the building were inaccessible due to excessive foliage in front of the door at the lower-level rear east apartment, and the failed wood steps to the other apartment on the back of the building. See photo 15 of the door to one of the apartments not that was not entered. 2. Upper Level: All three apartments in the upper level of the building. 3. Crawl space: View hole into the crawl space from an opening in the back of the building. Findings: The building is broken up into 8 apartments, 5 on the lower level and 3 on the upper level. The team was able to enter 6 of the apartments. Of the apartments entered, all were studio 2 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 2 of 10 apartments except the front apartment on the upper level which appears to be a one-bedroom apartment. The building is a wood framed structure covered in lath and plaster on the interior. The exterior is covered with metal siding with wood trim. Building Condition: The building is in very poor condition. The following issues were noted on the building: 1. Numerous roof leaks causing portions of the ceiling to fail. See photos 4 thru 6 for examples. 2. Rotten or termite infested wood; primarily seen in the windowsills on the second floor and on the first floor. See photos 7 and 8 for examples. 3. Rotten wood at most of the bathrooms due to on-going leaks. See photos 9 and 10. 4. Collapsed floors in several locations. See photo 11 for an example. 5. Partially collapsed portion of the building where it meets the one-story addition on the west side. See photos 12 thru 13. 6. Poorly supported floor joists in the crawl space. See photo 14 for an example. 7. Fire damage in portions of the building. See photos 15 and 16. Recommendations: In our opinion, due to the issues above we do not think that it is feasible to renovate the building. Our recommendation is to tear the building down. Note that demolition of the building may require hiring an asbestos and lead based paint testing firm to determine if there is asbestos or lead based paint in the existing materials that must be abated before disturbing those items. Please contact us if you have questions or need additional information. Sincerely, Joe Hilliard, PE Principal / Engineering cc: Greg Cockmon, Cromwell Photos: See pages 3 thru 10 3 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 3 of 10 Photo 1 – South and West Elevations. Photo 2 – East Elevation 4 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 4 of 10 Photo 3 – North Elevation Photo 4 – Ceiling Damage from Leaks at upper floor apartment 5 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 5 of 10 Photo 5 – Ceiling Damage from Leaks at upper floor apartment Photo 6 – Ceiling Damage from Leaks at upper floor apartment 6 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 6 of 10 Photo 7 – Rotted Windowsill at lower-level apartment Photo 8 – Rotted Windowsill at upper-level apartment 7 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 7 of 10 Photo 9 – Rotted wood from Bathroom Leak in upper level apartment to the lower apartment below. Photo 10 – Rotted wood from Bathroom /hot water heater leak 8 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 8 of 10 Photo 11 – Collapsed Floor in apartment in one- story west wing Photo 12 – Partially collapsed wall between 2-story building and one- story west wing. Floor has dropped approximately 8” in this area 9 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 9 of 10 Photo 13 – Partially collapsed balcony and roof of one- story west wing Photo 14 – Poorly supported floor joists in crawl space. Also note wet and rotting wood Note stacked bricks without mortar and what appears to be a 2x laid flat with excessive bending 10 1300 East 6th Street | Little Rock, AR 72202 | 501.372.2900 | cromwell.com Structural Study Report – 420 East 9th Street, Little Rock, AR 6/13/23 Cromwell Project: 2023-109 Page 10 of 10 End of Report Photo 15 – Fire damage to wood studs in the wall and damage to the exterior on the north side. Photo 16 – Fire damage in kitchen on upper-level rear apartment.