Mall at University Town Center's skylight suffers minor leaks
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Rainy days are often spent at the mall. And considering Southwest Florida's week, The Mall at University Town Center has been busier than usual.
The Manatee County and Sarasota County areas saw seven-day precipitation totals upward of 3 and 6 inches, respectively within the last week. The heavy rains meant more than just shoppers -- it revealed a small leak in the 10-month-old mall's grand skylight.
On Monday afternoon, mall security placed a trash can in front of the H&M store on the south end of the mall. It was cordoned off by stanchions and had the distinctive yellow "caution" sign to signal shoppers to avoid the area.
"We've had a couple of issues here and there but nothing major," said mall manager Octavio Ortiz. "On a building this big, you don't know if there are any issues until the torrential downpours start. And it's been less than we anticipated."
The skylight has had one or two minor leaks Ortiz can remember, but nothing major. He also said when constructing an 880,000-square-foot building like the Mall at UTC, such issues are to be expected.
"It's nothing out of the ordinary," Ortiz said.
The 1,100-foot skylight was custom designed and assembled for the Mall at UTC. The curvilinear vaulted skylight features a built-in color-changing LED lighting system and was built with high-performance glass meant to reduce heat gain
and energy costs.
Greg Yantorno, building official for Sarasota County, wasn't present for the inspections on the mall's roof and skylight or when crews did a trial run on the skylight. He made other trips out to the mall during its construction, though.
"They set up a section of skylight to test it, not just for protection from weather but also how it would come together in the building with the electric and the automated sprinkler system," Yantorno said. "It was manufactured offsite and brought in in pieces and the sections were joined together during installation on the roof."
The skylight could be leaking through the joints between skylight pieces, Yantorno said, or at the point where the skylight joins with the roof. His office isn't evaluating the issue for the mall. Diagnosing the problem will be left to the general contractor.
"It's a very unique and complicated system and design," Yantorno said. "It's not a straight run, it's a custom-made skylight so if there are any leaking issues they'll have to investigate and figure out where it is."
The general contractor for the mall, dck worldwide, will be in charge of initiating the evaluation and repairs. A dck worldwide subcontractor completed the installation of the skylight. Ortiz said the skylight is under warranty and a contractor was expected sometime Tuesday to fix it.
Janelle O'Dea, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7095. Follow her on Twitter @jayohday.
This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Mall at University Town Center's skylight suffers minor leaks ."