Commercial Concrete Restoration & Structural Repair After Vehicle Impact 

Project: Commercial Concrete Restoration & Structural Repair After Vehicle Impact
Location: North Ocean Drive, Hollywood, Florida at Billy’s Stone Crabs
Size: Two-Story Commercial Restaurant

What a vehicle crash exposed inside a two-story commercial building in Hollywood, Florida turned a simple repair call into one of the most complete structural and architectural restoration projects on South Florida’s North Ocean Drive. One engineering firm handled everything, from emergency structural assessment to final permitted closeout.

One Crash. Four Damaged Facades.

When a vehicle struck the exterior of Billy’s Stone Crabs, a well-known waterfront restaurant in Hollywood Beach, it shattered the CMU wall beneath a ground-floor window and cracked the adjacent reinforced concrete column. The accident was a public incident on one of Hollywood’s busiest corridors along North Ocean Drive. Field measurements showed damage running 2.8 feet down the column face, with crack widths between 0.3mm and 1.6mm and visible concrete spalling across the impact zone. NOHMIS was brought in immediately as engineer of record to assess the structural damage, design the repairs, and produce permit-ready construction documents.

The crash was only the beginning. As the building’s stone facade came down for the exterior renovation, concealed concrete deterioration surfaced across all four sides of the structure. Columns throughout the South, East, and West elevations showed years of hidden damage that no one could see until the stone was off. What started as a targeted structural repair became a full commercial concrete restoration project covering the entire building exterior.

Permit-Ready Engineering, Built for the Field

As engineer of record, NOHMIS produced complete, signed-and-sealed construction documents the contractor could take directly to the City of Hollywood Building Department. The structural repair drawings covered CMU wall reconstruction with a new reinforced concrete tie beam, epoxy-grouted vertical rebar, and prescriptive concrete repair procedures designed to ACI 318-19 and ACI 562-19 standards. Every crack type was assigned a specific repair method, so the contractor had clear, buildable instructions with no guesswork on site.

When scope expanded after stone removal revealed additional structural damage, NOHMIS updated the drawings in real time to reflect field conditions across all elevations. The revised permit-ready plans addressed full rebar replacement on columns where corrosion had exceeded 10% of the bar’s original cross-section, tie beam reinforcement, expansion joint repairs, infill cell construction, and structural steel bracket anti-corrosion treatment. Alongside the structural work, NOHMIS designed the complete exterior architectural renovation, producing permit-ready elevation drawings for all four building faces, new stone facade specifications, paint color selections, exterior lighting layout, and full masonry veneer system details. When the City of Hollywood Building Department returned reviewer comments, NOHMIS prepared the technical response documents so the contractor could resubmit with everything resolved in one round. Every drawing was built to be construction-ready, with nothing left to interpretation on the job site.

Special Inspections That Protected Everyone

NOHMIS served as the designated Special Building Inspector under Florida Building Code requirements and Broward County’s administrative code, filing the formal inspection plan and maintaining a complete special inspection log throughout construction. Our team conducted many site visits, each tied directly to specific elements and locations on the as-built structural drawings.

Multiple columns were found in the field with reinforcing steel deteriorated beyond safe limits. NOHMIS directed corrective work before concrete was placed each time, protecting the contractor, the owner, and the building. RFIs were answered promptly. Field changes were documented and reflected in updated as-built plans. The project was completed in full conformance with the referenced construction documents.

One Engineering Partner from Start to Finish

For the general contractor and construction team on this project, NOHMIS was not a firm that handed over drawings and went quiet. We showed up for every inspection, responded to every RFI, and updated the permit-ready plans every time field conditions changed. That is the kind of engineering partnership that keeps commercial construction projects on schedule in South Florida, where scope surprises are the norm, not the exception.