Piedmont Gardens CCRC

Jack

There are several positive features to life at Piedmont Gardens, mainly the many talented and experienced people who live there. It has a lovely courtyard garden and planting areas, if I say so myself. Its urban location, near so many interesting shops and restaurants on Piedmont Avenue, is ideal. There are also many dedicated and attentive staff. I can vouch for these statements because my wife and I lived there for more than four years. We left in late 2019, however, because the building we lived in was rated by competent seismic engineers to be below the \"life safety\" standard in an earthquake of the magnitude predicted to occur, at any time, in the Bay Area. I read the first of two reports prepared by the engineers, so I know that my statement of the building\'s condition is accurate. The Crestmont Tower is a 16-story, reinforced concrete structure of a slab and column design, non-ductile, and highly vulnerable in an earthquake. Being below the \"life safety\" standard means that the building is at serious risk of damage and loss of life in an earthquake. Now, since 2019, I believe that the management, HumanGood, has been engaged with the engineers in preparing a plan to retrofit the structure, likely at considerable expense, taking some time to carry out, and likely very disruptive to residents living in the building. I mentioned I was allowed to read the first engineers\' report. Although residents were promised they could read both reports, they were not allowed to read the second, but it is a certainty that the second report enlarged upon the essential findings of the first. In the past two years, I am not aware that any plans to retrofit the Crestmont Tower have been announced or shared with residents. I expect that such an announcement will be made eventually. In the meantime, if you are considering moving into the Crestmont Tower, I strongly suggest that you insist upon reading the seismic reports prepared by the engineers first. You should know what you are getting yourself into before signing a contract. If Piedmont Gardens were a condo, and you were buying a unit there, the management would be legally obliged to share such information with you. Why a \"continuing care and retirement community\" for senior citizens doesn\'t have to provide such critical information, I can\'t say, but it doesn\'t. Nevertheless, if you ask to read the reports and are denied an opportunity to do so, you may reach your own conclusions about the safety of the building. I should add, that if the building is brought up to the minimum \"life safety\" seismic standard, it means that occupants are likely to survive a strong earthquake but that the building itself may not be inhabitable as a result of damage. Finally, if you are told that the building is \"legal\", all that means is that it was \"grandfathered\" at the time the State seismic building standards were strengthened. It does not mean that the building is safe in an earthquake of the magnitude likely to occur at any time in the Bay Area. I\'ll conclude by saying that, if the building had met the minimum seismic standard of \"life safety\", I am reasonably certain that my wife and I would have stayed, because we liked so much living at Piedmont Gardens.