Pacific Tower Seismic Evaluation & Strengthening

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA

Pacific Tower, a Long Beach Historical Landmark, was constructed in 1923 in the classical Renaissance Revival architecture with light terra cotta against red brick. The 1150,000 sq ft, 12-story building was designed by prominent architect W. Horace Austin. As with nearly all non-ductile concrete frame buildings with unreinforced masonry (URM) infill, the risk of seismic damage was substantial.

MHP provided structural evaluation and seismic strengthening of the building using three-dimensional modeling that incorporated non-linear finite element (FEA) sub-models to capture the performance of the URM infill elements. Strengthening consisted of new concrete shear walls, expanded foundations, and ductility enhancements.

Size:

115,000 Sq. Ft.

Construction Cost:

Approx. $5M

Client:

City Group