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Rental Car Area Ceiling Collapses At 9-Story TIA Parking Garage

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By TED JACKOVICS

tjackovics@tampatrib.com

Published: January 27, 2009

TAMPA - Engineers were expected to continue stabilizing a ceiling that partially collapsed at a Tampa International Airport long-term parking garage early Monday morning .

The collapse, which occurred about 2 a.m. Monday, did not compromise the safety of the nine-story garage, airport officials said.

Three Hertz rental cars were damaged, including one that was crushed, when the concrete and steel ceiling collapsed where rental cars are parked after they are serviced for use.

About one-third of the ceiling, a section about 50 feet wide and 150 feet long, fell. A Hertz employee heard the crash and reported it. No one was injured.

"The collapse did not affect the structural integrity of the garage," airport director Louis Miller said.

He said the ceiling was built as a canopy to cover the ground floor portion of an atriumlike section of the garage. It was connected with bolts to columns, but the ceiling was not designed to provide support to the garage.

The garage opened in 1991, and the ceiling was added in 2002 to provide cover for a handful of cars.

The ceiling was relatively light, said Alan Holderith, senior vice president of Clearwater-based Creative Contractors Inc., which built the structure and sent representatives to the airport Monday to check on the collapse.

"Thank God, nobody was hurt," Holderith said.

The ceiling passed several city inspections as it was built, in 2002 and 2003, said John Barrios, manager of construction services for Tampa.

The project passed its final inspection and received a certificate of completion from the city in August 2003.

"They were very detailed inspections," Barrios said. "I don't see any outstanding issues or outstanding problems that were not corrected by the time we issued our final approval."

Visitors park on the top seven floors of the nine-story structure, and the first two floors are used for rental car operations. Attendants wash, fuel and store rental cars on the ground floor.

People using the airport should notice no changes in rental vehicle operations, which are handled on the second floor, officials said.

The engineer for construction of the ceiling, Masters Engineering, was on-site Monday to check the loads and supports for column connectors and what support might be needed for the portion of the ceiling that has not collapsed, airport officials said.

Tribune reporter Russell Ray and News Channel 8 reporter Katie Coronado contributed to this report. Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817.

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