Limetree Beach Club Rehab
Back-to-back category 5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria, devastated properties across the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) a few years ago, including the former Bluebeard Beach Club on St. Thomas. The resort lost the roofs on all seven of its guestroom buildings, and several smaller structures were so badly damaged they needed to be demolished. Club Wyndham, operators of the timeshare property, along with its homeowners association, rebuilt and rebranded the development with a more upscale appearance. Three years later, the resort reopened as the Limetree Beach Club, with upgraded metal roofs featuring a signature blue finish that make the resort easy to spot, by land or by sea.
After the storms’ devastation, general contractor J. Benton Construction, based in St. Croix, put together a design-build including architect Silverberg Associates, St. Croix and Princeton, N.J., and roofing contractor Central Roofing, Jackson, Miss.
“This project was very similar to a total rehab project,” says Dave Rutberg, Silverberg Associates’ project manager on the job, describing the interior and exterior damage suffered by the buildings that survived the storm. “We had to basically gut everything to the structural members, so we were left with a blank canvas. We tried to be sympathetic to the original buildings on the site.”
PAC-CLAD Tite-Loc Plus Panels for Salt-Spray Resistance
The new roof features PAC-CLAD Tite-Loc Plus panels from Petersen in the company’s Interstate Blue finish. Central Roofing specified the panels in .032-gauge aluminum to better withstand the salt spray prevalent at the coastal location. Chris Creely, Central Roofing’s manager, says the choice was an easy one for him to make.
“I’ve always had a good relationship with Petersen,” he says. “They provide a quality product and they understand unique projects — for example, in the middle of the ocean.”
With his previous experience working in the Caribbean, Creely was familiar with the challenges the remote location can pose, but those experiences also put the roofing pro in a good place when it came to the Limetree Beach Club project. He’s licensed in the USVI, which makes working with the local building authorities easier. And he has assembled a team of installers over multiple assignments in the region, which helped work move along on schedule.
With construction complete, the resort has been happily accepting guests again to the reimagined Limetree Beach Resort. Creely says he’s proud of the part his team played in getting the popular vacation spot back in business. “I think we did an excellent job, and the general contractor was more than pleased.”
For more information on Petersen and PAC-CLAD products, please visit www.PAC-CLAD.com. MOH
Photos: brianadamsphoto.com
