Soft Story Seismic Upgrade for a Landmark Wine Store

The Challenge: This three-story San Francisco building on Fillmore Street required a soft story seismic upgrade. There was a landmark wine store in the building that had to remain open throughout the project. Additionally, the only access available to the building for the construction crew and equipment was a small entry door.

Our Solution: We designed a process by which the soft story seismic retrofit could be done within the tight constraints of the building site.

The project consisted of two moment frames, construction of a number of grade beams and sheer walls including installation of foundation bolts and Simpson hardware in the retail stores as well as the garage areas. As part of the permit requirements, we built two ADA compliant restrooms as well as ADA compliant entries.

The work areas in the wine store were cordoned; a dust control system was installed so that the store could remain operational. and not impacted during the progress of work. All operations were performed within the narrow confines of the cordons. Intrusive operations were performed before and after the business hours.

The wine store remained open throughout the project.

To discuss your soft story retrofit project, please contact structural builders SteelCore Builders at: 415-331-0525.