Structural engineers are evaluating the stability of a mixed-use building that was evacuated Thursday on Sand Lake Road in Orange County. Meanwhile, more than 350 residents of The Rialto’s apartments are waiting to find out if and when they might be able to return home.
The five-floor building has 200 apartment units, plus several businesses on the ground floor. Emergency responders evacuated the entire building early Thursday, following 911 calls from residents who reported hearing “loud popping sounds” and said they couldn’t open “jammed” front doors to leave their units.
“We had to force open several of them; it wasn’t just one door that was affected,” said Orange County Fire Rescue Acting Division Chief William Farhart at a press conference Thursday. “There were several doors that could not open, and so we had to use tools to open the doors, to let people out of their apartments.”
Farhart said the first 911 call came in just before 5 a.m. Thursday, from a woman who lives on the top floor.
On Friday afternoon, Niharika Gunti was sitting outside the building, waiting for a chance to hopefully get inside and retrieve some important items for herself and her husband. The couple had just moved from India and into the building about six months ago, Gunti said.
“Until further notice, we don't have any access to the building,” Gunti said. “In just 10 minutes, we got to take our essentials — just a passport, documents and just day-to-day essentials. And we got our suitcases and we just came out. … Poof.”
Gunti, an aspiring model, said she had secured an audition for Saturday, but was no longer sure she’d be able to make it, given the circumstances.
“I still have hope … but I don't know how I can figure it out,” Gunti said. “My costumes are there, inside. My accessories are inside.”
As disappointing and stressful as it all is for Gunti, she said she’s more concerned about her neighbors.
“I don't know how people with parents and kids and pets managed yesterday,” she said.
As of Friday afternoon, all businesses on the property remained closed.
Gunti said she’s been informed residents likely won’t be able to return home this weekend. Property managers recommended they make arrangements to stay elsewhere for the next several nights and offered to assist in identifying hotel options.
Several area hotels are offering discounted rates for displaced residents. Orange County lists some of those hotels online.
Upon entering the building, Farhart, the Fire Rescue division chief, said he noticed “very obvious cracking in and around fire doors; in and around residential doors. … I think we saw damage on all floors, to some degree, and throughout the building.”
Orange County’s building safety division recommended evacuating the property after performing an inspection and determining the building was “showing further signs of instability,” Farhart said.
Deputy Chief Building Inspector Gilbert Mercado said Thursday, while the building safety team hadn’t gone inside any of the ground-floor businesses, the exterior of the building showed “signs of structural damage.”
Inside the residential part of the building, Mercado said, obvious signs of fresh cracking on the drywall “got progressively worse as we went up.”
Farhart said the building’s annual fire inspection was in September, and since then the fire department had been doing “reinspections.” Another reinspection for “a remaining violation” at the building had been scheduled for Friday, Farhart said.
“But remember that fire inspections are focusing on the fire prevention code. We look for obvious signs of structural instability; there were none, at that time,” Farhart said. “Building Safety would be involved, if there were obvious signs. We do refer violations like that to them, if we find them during a fire-related inspection.”
The property, at 7343 W. Sand Lake Road is owned and operated by Northland Investment Corp., a Massachusetts-based private equity firm. Northland owns more than two dozen residential properties across Florida, including The Paramount on Lake Eola in Downtown Orlando.
Northland's executives also co-manage a WNBA team, the Atlanta Dream.
Central Florida Public Media elections and investigations reporter Sam Stockbridge contributed to this report.
