{"id":206718,"date":"2026-03-26T10:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/206718\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:29:11","slug":"experts-detail-possible-reasons-for-damage-evacuation-at-orange-apartment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/206718\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts detail possible reasons for damage, evacuation at Orange apartment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201csudden failure\u201d of an Orange County apartment complex hastily evacuated last week<\/a> could stem from problems in the ground beneath it, its foundation or the five-story structure itself, but getting residents out quickly made sense, experts say.<\/p>\n

The issue at The Rialto apartments on Sand Lake Road looks to be a building failure caused by \u201cdifferential settlement,\u201d the uneven sinking of different parts of a building, said Kamal Tawfiq, a professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n

The problems seem to have appeared rapidly and are unusual enough that he is already talking about the incident with his students, he added.<\/p>\n

The apartment was evacuated Thursday morning after a frantic resident called 911 to report her front door wouldn\u2019t open and she heard \u201cpopping\u201d noises, officials said. Firefighters had to break down that woman\u2019s door and the doors in several other apartments to help residents leave.<\/p>\n

\"ItemsItems are removed from apartments at The Rialto apartments in Orlando on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. The Rialto apartments building had to be evacuated Thursday, March 19, after signs of structural instability were found. Residents are still unable to return. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Later, inspectors found signs of \u201cstructural instability,\u201d including cracks around several doors, and ordered all 358 residents to evacuate. The residents remain locked out while an engineering firm hired by the complex investigates. Inspectors arrived last week and are still investigating the cause and extent of the problems, county officials said.<\/p>\n

Orange\u2019s building safety department says two projects were done at the complex without proper permits, but it wasn\u2019t clear they played any role in what happened.<\/p>\n

The resident\u2019s call to 911 about \u201cpopping\u201d sounds may have indicated something inside the structure giving way, Tawfiq said.<\/p>\n

That could happen \u201cif there is a void that collapses, or a sinkhole, underneath the foundation,\u201d he said. \u201cOr it could be actually in the structure due to corrosion with time, and the structure has been weakened until it gets to the level that it didn\u2019t handle the stresses\u2026and collapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ResidentsResidents gather and remove some items from their apartments at The Rialto apartments in Orlando on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. The Rialto apartments building had to be evacuated Thursday, March 19, after signs of structural instability were found. Residents are still unable to return. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

Necati Catbas, an engineering professor at the University of Central Florida,\u00a0said he was surprised by what happened given that The Rialto, which county records says was built in 2014, is a relatively new building.<\/p>\n

But based on what he has heard in the news, he concurred with Tawfiq that differential settlement was a likely culprit and that the \u201cpopping\u201d noises were caused by excessive forces placed upon parts of the structure.<\/p>\n

The apartment\u2019s location between Spring Lake and Little Sand Lake may have been a factor, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s right like at a very narrow point between these two relatively larger lakes,\u201d Catbas said. \u201cBeing so close to these water levels\u2026these buildings might have experienced some settlement, and especially with differential settlement\u2026that\u2019s when you start seeing cracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rialto advertises itself as \u201cone of Orlando\u2019s premier residential experiences\u201d that \u201coffers homes with sweeping views of Spring Lake and high-end amenities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OneOne of the now-closed businesses attached to The Rialto apartments in Orlando is pictured on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. The Rialto apartments building had to be evacuated Thursday, March 19, after signs of structural instability were found. Residents are still unable to return. (Stephen M. Dowell\/Orlando Sentinel)<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s report issued Monday noted the complex is in violation of the state building codes or county ordinances since it did not have required permits or inspections on two projects.<\/p>\n

Those two projects, the report said, were \u201cstucco repairs\u201d to the exterior of the building and the construction of a retaining wall near its dog park.<\/p>\n

Catbas said he could not comment on whether those could have contributed to the building\u2019s problems without knowing more about the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to learn a little bit more about those in terms of locations and whether those are structural elements that might lead to these types of problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Northland Investment Corporation, a Massachusetts-based real estate private equity firm, owns the complex. The firm didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The company is paying its evacuated residents $1,000 each to help with moving costs and is not charging them rent for the days they cannot live in the building, a spokesperson said earlier this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201csudden failure\u201d of an Orange County apartment complex hastily evacuated last week could stem from problems in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[112,28,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,109],"class_list":["post-206718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-florida","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}