Report outlines structural overload at upscale Meridian condo complex

Owners at the upscale but financially troubled Meridian condominium community near the Strip just learned that the buildings are structurally overloaded and potentially unsafe because of heavy luxury tile floors that were installed without building permits during the 2005 conversion from apartments to condos.

Homeowners association board members said at a Tuesday meeting that they received a report from Wright Engineers on Monday and will research the best way to solve the hazard.

Options include removing the flooring or shoring up the buildings' supports, said attorney Charles Litt, whose firm is representing the Meridian association in construction defect litigation.

Litt told the Tuesday audience that when the site was converted to condos, the work was described as an interior remodeling, which would not require permits if only cosmetic changes -- such as a change of carpeting, paint or faucet fixtures -- were done.

But a diligent contractor would have known that installing heavy marble and travertine tiling could affect the building's structural load, Litt said. An engineer should have been consulted and permits obtained, Litt said.

Depending on the floor plan, and the extent of heavy tiling, some condo units have locations where structural members are overloaded by as much as 21 percent and 35 percent, according to the report by Wright Engineers. The firm inspected 34 units in four buildings at the 670-unit project.

The Meridian, 250 E. Flamingo Road, has three- and four-story residential buildings, each with a wooden frame on a concrete base.

Owners of Meridian units and the homeowners association are embroiled in lawsuits against several parties, alleging mortgage and leasing fraud and substandard plumbing repairs and withheld driveway access. Chicago-based American Invsco arranged the Meridian's conversion and condo sales.

Contact reporter Joan Whitely at
jwhitely@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0268.