Award of Merit Renovation/Restoration: Restoration of the Historic Cavalier Hotel

The project team reinforced the 85-year-old hotel’s underlying structural system, corroded by the Virginia Beach salt-air environment, while preserving many of its original features, including its Y-shaped plan.

Photo by Robert Benson Photography, courtesy W.M. Jordan Co.

Restoration of the Historic Cavalier Hotel LLC
Virginia Beach, Va.
Award of Merit

Owner: Cavalier Associates
Developer: Gold Key | PHR
Lead Design Firm: Hanbury
General Contractor: W.M. Jordan Co.
Civil Engineer: Kimley-Horn
Structural Engineer: Lynch Mykins Structural Engineers PC
MEP Engineer: Cherwa-Ewing Engineering PC
Subcontractors: Sprinkle Masonry Inc.; Conley Bros. (Brick Repair); Tile Concepts (Terrazzo Floors), Warwick Mechanical Group (HVAC, Plumbing, Process Piping, Mechanical Demolition)

The $58.7-million restoration of this 85-year-old hotel, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, required extensive structural and facade work while preserving historic details. The project team says it reinforced the underlying structural system, corroded by the Virginia Beach salt-air environment, while preserving many original features, including its Y-shaped plan.

The team says it was impossible to erect scaffolding around the structure without destroying the historic loggia copper roofs below, so it developed a structural Davit system with anchor points. The team says this system gave masons the ability to use swing staging and boson’s chairs to better access each side of the facade.

One time-sensitive challenge in restoring the 117,448-sq-ft, seven-story hotel was restoring a deteriorated water tower, which was at risk of not supporting the weight of a cast-stone bell tower above. To avoid stopping work in and below the tower, the team collaborated on producing a coordinated engineered shoring plan. Using scaffolding around the water tower for access, the team started at each of the water tower’s four corners and performed selective demolition of brick and masonry. Workers then repaired, replaced or augmented the steel reinforcing in each corner, depending on the amount of deterioration. After reinforcing the tower, the team replaced the masonry and brick in compliance with historical building guidelines.