ARGYLE — The town’s newest, largest office building was built without a sprinkler system, and both the building’s developer and other tenants managed to move in without a certificate of occupancy. 

According to documents obtained through an open records request, Town Administrator Lyle Dresher notified Teresa Rather, president of Professional Depot, that Argyle was filing a claim against a $150,000 performance bond and would begin constructing fire hydrants outside the building shortly. 

Rather sought approval in 2005 to construct a two-story, 21,250-square-foot office building at 415 U.S. Highway 377 South.

DRC/Al Key

The Professional Depot is a 21,250-square-foot office building at 415 U.S. Highway 377 in Argyle. Because the building lacks a sprinkler system, city officials insisted that the building’s developer and investors put up a $150,000 performance bond for additional fire hydrants and a water line around the building.

Commercial buildings of 5,000 square feet or more are required to have sprinkler systems, according to Argyle Volunteer Fire District Chief Mac Hohenberger.

One year later, officials realized the brick building, known as Professional Depot, went up without a sprinkler system. They insisted that Rather and the building’s investors put up a $150,000 performance bond for additional fire hydrants and a water line to loop around the building. At the time, an engineering firm estimated $165,000 to complete the work. Other documents showed the building’s certificate of occupancy was contingent on completing the work as well. Ultimately, though, the building would stand without a sprinkler system inside.

Since those negotiations, Rather’s real estate brokerage, the Real Estate Station, and several other tenants, including medical and dental offices, moved into the building without either the required fire suppression systems in place or the certificate of occupancy, Dresher said.

Rather did not return a call for comment.

Typically, insurers and mortgagers require certificates of occupancy as proof that a structure is safe and livable before they underwrite policies.    

Going ahead

Dresher notified Rather on April 15 that the town had no choice but to make a claim on the $150,000 performance bond, since the bond was about to expire and the building still had no fire protection.

Performance bonds protect taxpayers and ratepayers in case a developer or contractor runs out of money and can’t finish a job, Dresher said. By filing the claim, the town can work with Argyle Water Supply to install the new water line and hydrants needed to protect the building and its occupants.

Rather’s attorney, Paul Genender, replied April 23, questioning why the town would file the claim without first producing a cost-sharing agreement on the line, as previously negotiated.

Engineer Randall Davis confirmed that Argyle Water Supply has considered installing a larger water line than the city proposed in the compromise deal with Rather. However, additional costs, if any, would be borne by the water company if it decided to install a larger pipe, he said.

The town of Argyle does not provide water service, and that area’s water service needs have remained about the same for the past 40 years, Davis said.

The water company has a long-range plan to accommodate growth, Davis said. But no utility puts in a larger line for just one business or building, because the investment risk is too great to pass on to ratepayers.

“It could be gone tomorrow,” Davis said.

Why sprinklers?

Some building owners complain that it costs too much to have sprinklers, and fire safety experts have seen property owners go to great lengths to avoid installing them.

It’s especially costly to install them after a building is built, said Roland Asebedo, assistant fire marshal in the Denton County Emergency Services Office.

But both the owner and the community as a whole pay more in the long run without sprinkler systems.

First, sprinklers help small fires from getting big. The affected room may see water damage, but the rest of the building can be spared. “Basically, the firefighting has begun without you,” Asebedo said.

Often, firefighters find that the sprinklers have already extinguished the fire when they arrive at the scene. They need only turn off the water.

Fires in buildings without sprinklers can get out of control quickly, igniting more fuel than can be extinguished, Asebedo said.

While most firefighter injuries occur at house fires, the overall risk is much higher at other structure fires, with 44 injuries per 1,000 fires at non-residential structures, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

Nine firefighters were killed in South Carolina last summer after a discarded cigarette set fire to the loading dock of a sofa showroom and quickly spread. Investigators said the department made a mistake by sending firefighters inside the building. They also found that the fire would have been confined to the loading dock if the building had sprinklers.

The science — and the economics — of firefighting is not new, Asebedo said. At some point, the risk to neighboring properties increases, too.

“There’s the risk of burning someone else’s stuff,” Asebedo said. “It’s a hard sell, getting someone to protect not only their property, but of everyone that surrounds them.”

But insurers know that, and communities will pay accordingly, he said. When the Insurance Services Organization rates a community for fire risk, problems posed by commercial buildings are part of the equation.

That equation, in turn, determines the cost of insurance for both commercial and residential properties in an area.

“For homeowners, that can be hundreds of dollars, but for commercial and industry, it’s thousands in difference … and for years upon years,” Asebedo said.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.