The Pearl

The Pearl multi-family apartment complex is located within a 43-acre urban, mixed-use redevelopment project just north of downtown Tampa, Florida in the historic neighborhood of Tampa Heights. As the first new structure in this redevelopment project, the apartment building, with 314 dwelling units and 28,000 SF of retail space, established the architectural character for the new district. Located on a four-acre site, three new apartment buildings are organized around a five-level 500-space precast parking structure and central courtyard. CarbonCast High Performance Insulated Wall Panels and floor decks were central to the design concept from the beginning. The goal was to create a contemporary-style building that highlighted the area’s history as an industrial district. The client also demanded buildings that would be long-lasting and low maintenance.

The project utilized Metromont’s proprietary MetroDeck total precast floor and roof system, load-bearing CarbonCast wall panels with continuous insulation, precast concrete balconies, precast concrete stairs and stair towers, and integral architectural finishes on interior and exterior of wall panels. The architectural details and finishes on the three buildings include six architectural finish combinations on the exterior, formliner and cast-in brick, various architectural mixes with sandblast finish, and an interior concrete wythe left exposed.

Two of the three apartment buildings (Buildings #1 and #2) are comprised of architectural and structural precast concrete, while building #3 was constructed with block and precast concrete hollowcore. The three-story block and plank structure took 55% longer to construct with half the square footage as the two MetroDeck structures. Building #1 is a seven-level, 128,939-SF total precast structure with 107 units. Construction was completed in 13 weeks. Building #2 is a seven-level, 157,771-SF total precast structure with 117 units. Construction was completed in 18 weeks. Building #3 is a four-level, 137,879-SF CMU and Hollowcore structure with 90 units. Construction was completed in 48 weeks.

At seven stories tall and more than 500 feet in length, one of the key design challenges was to break down the scale of the building to reflect the character of the nearby early 20^th century commercial street. Precast finishes, such as tinted concrete, textured patterns, and thin brick, were used on the exterior wall panels toward this end. On the interior, the clients requested an urban, loft-style character. In response, CarbonCast wall panels were utilized so the interior of the wall panels could be left exposed in both common areas and dwelling units. Additionally, exposed precast concrete slabs in common areas and exposed precast concrete ceiling in apartments met the clients’ desired look.

Finally, the clients wanted to reduce construction time to minimize financial carrying costs. Using Metromont’s MetroDeck wall and deck system reduced the construction time in comparison to alternative construction systems by approximately three months.