Partner ESI was contracted by San Diego State University (SDSU) for a pre-acquisition due diligence assessment including property condition assessment, structural assessment, and geotechnical services of an existing three-story medical office building and a five-story parking structure on approx. 2.5-acre land.
Property condition assessment revealed that the medical building is in fair condition. There was evidence of debris slide where retaining walls and concrete barricades were installed between the medical office building site and the neighboring homes. After conducting a desktop research review, and slope observation, the Geotechnical team provided a cost estimate for the design and construction of a new, permitted, retaining wall and recommended a further geotechnical slope stability study.
The City of San Diego had an encumbrance on a stand-alone parking structure because the required special inspection and soil testing reports were not submitted when the building was constructed in 2005. Other consulting firms and the city building department had recommended saw-cutting through the ground-level pavement to advance soil borings and perform in-place density testing to verify compaction. Given the age of construction, Partner’s team conducted desktop research and assessed the site condition using a licensed structural and geotechnical engineer, and a licensed geologist.
Based on the inspection of the parking garage condition by our licensed professionals, it was concluded that the soil subgrade was performing well and had been adequately prepared to support the structure. As such, Partner assumed Geotechnical Engineering of Record responsibility and issued the required documents to the municipalities to remove the encumbrance.
Partner’s timely due diligence and engineering evaluation services helped SDSU complete its intended real estate acquisition.