El Governor Hotel Helical Anchors, Helical Piers, and Polyurethane Injection

The Challenge

Hurricane Michael devastated this hotel leaving them a choice: give up or rebuild.

Hurricane Micheal ripped through the Gulf Coast of Florida in October of 2018, leaving devastation in its path. The storm, with winds as high as 160 MPH and a storm surge of over 14 feet, was a category five when it made landfall. Cities on the gulf were ripped apart. Homes and businesses were destroyed. The El Governor Hotel in Mexico Beach was no different, with much of the hotel and its infrastructure destroyed, leaving the owners faced with a decision: leave the remains of the hotel in ruins, or rebuild. Choosing to rebuild the gulf front facility, a contractor was hired to rebuild the hotel itself, and Groundworks was subcontracted in an effort to provide solid ground for its existing structures and improvements.

Key Facts

The Solution

Three major solutions were needed to provide a strong base for rebuilding.

The El Governor Hotel required three major solutions to support their reconstruction: helical anchors to hold their seawall in place, new construction helical piers to support an elevator pit and mechanical room, and polyurethane injection to support stairwells that experienced massive soil washout referred to as scouring.
After the hurricane, portions of the seawall were completely destroyed while other sections remained salvageable. As a result, intact portions of the existing seawall were incorporated into the reconstruction, while other sections were rebuilt. To stabilize both the existing and newly constructed sections of the seawall, Groundworks installed helical tiebacks to anchor the structure and help resist future storm surge forces. The anchors were hydraulically advanced laterally into the soil until they reached an ultimate capacity of 24 kips, confirming adequate soil resistance and allowing the system to effectively stabilize and hold the seawall in place.
To provide a stable base for the new elevator pit and mechanical room, Groundworks installed 3.5″ diameter round shaft helical piles equipped with 10”, 12”, and 14” helical plates. The piles were hydraulically advanced into the soil until achieving 15,000 ft-lbs of installation torque, indicating competent load-bearing strata capable of supporting the new construction. The machinery used to advance the piles was one that produced minimal vibrations, so as to prevent soil consolidation beneath the nearby structures.
Finally, the stairwells that had experienced scouring in their support soils had a high-density polyurethane injected beneath them. The system expanded, filling the void and reestablishing soil connectivity and load support to the stairwell above it.

The Impact

A strong foundation was left for the El Governor Hotel to continue rebuilding.

The helical piers were assessed by a third-party engineer for their load bearing capacity, using a static load test. The use of helical piers and anchors also benefited surrounding structures by providing stability through a low-vibration installation process. This was particularly important because the sandy soils at the site are prone to compaction and consolidation when exposed to high levels of vibration. This choice not only provided a strong foundation for the El Governor to continue to rebuild, but also prevented excess damage to surrounding structures. Additionally, the solutions used for this project provided stability and protection for the hotel during future storm events.