Case Study: Hammerhead™ Flood Panels & Swing Gates™ – St. Croix Club Condominium, Naples, Florida
After back-to-back coastal flooding events from Hurricanes Ian and Milton, St. Croix Club’s leadership chose to move from reactive repair to proactive flood resilience by partnering with Garrison Flood Control.
CLIENT:
St. Croix Club, a three-building beachfront condominium community on Gulf Shore Boulevard in Naples, Florida.
CHALLENGE:
In recent years, Gulf Shore Boulevard has experienced repeated coastal flooding and storm surge, most notably from Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Hurricane Milton in 2024. Ian drove several feet of storm surge into the Gulf Shore/Venetian Bay area, destroying vehicles in underground garages and gutting first-floor spaces in multiple condominium buildings. Two years later, Hurricane Milton again pushed 5–8 feet of surge onto the Collier County coast, flooding streets and structures along the Naples waterfront.
St. Croix Club suffered extensive damage during both events, particularly on the lower levels. Electrical rooms, elevator lobbies, garage areas, and mechanical spaces were inundated, taking critical building systems offline and forcing long, costly renovation cycles. The condo board and residents were united in one priority: they did not want to rebuild the lower level after every major storm.
At the same time, any retrofit flood protection solution for a multi-family residential building in Naples must navigate a demanding permitting environment. City guidance requires permits for any flood-mitigation product attached to a building, prohibits certain dry-floodproofing methods in coastal zones, and below the BFE (Base Flood Elevation).
For multi-family projects using flood panels and similar barriers, Naples also requires a detailed engineering submittal, including certification that the existing structure can support flood loads. Garrison has successfully obtained permits for several Naples condos.
St. Croix Club Condominium | SOCOTEC Consulting Inc. Project
Key technical and regulatory challenges included:
Protecting multiple critical infrastructure areas across three buildings:
Main electrical rooms
Elevator access points and shafts
Garages and vehicle entrances
Cooling tower mechanical room
Florida Power & Light (FPL) mechanical and equipment room
Demonstrating that the existing structures could resist hydrostatic, hydrodynamic, buoyancy, and debris impact loads expected during storm surge events, following FEMA and Florida Building Code flood provisions.
Meeting strict egress and life-safety requirements set by the Naples Fire Marshal, who required certain openings to remain accessible even after flood barriers were installed.
GOAL:
The St. Croix board engaged Garrison Flood Control with three primary objectives:
Resilience: Protect critical infrastructure and lower-level common areas from storm surge and coastal flooding so that future hurricanes would not take the buildings offline for months or require major reconstruction.
Compliance: Develop a flood barrier solution that could successfully navigate the City of Naples’ multi-step permitting, structural review, and inspection process for existing multi-family coastal buildings.
Safety & Access: Maintain code-compliant egress and fire department access while integrating barriers into an existing, fully occupied condominium community.
SOLUTION:
The Engineer of Record (EOR) performed a structural review of walls, openings, and foundations where Hammerhead panels and gates would anchor, confirming capacity for hydrostatic, hydrodynamic, buoyancy, and impact loads per Florida Building Code flood provisions.
The engineering team produced a comprehensive submittal package required by the City of Naples for multi-family flood panel projects, including:
A marked floor plan and site plan showing each flood barrier, its elevation, and the protected areas.
Technical shop drawings for each opening.
Calculation sheets documenting flood loads and resulting reactions at anchors and supporting structures.
Details of attachment hardware, substrates, and tolerances.
An engineer’s certification that flood loads could be safely resisted by the existing structure.
Garrison provided extensive product engineering documentation for inclusion in the EOR’s report, including:
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis demonstrating panel performance under flowing water conditions.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) results confirming structural capacity and deflection limits for Hammerhead components.
Hammerhead Aluminum Flood Panels Were Selected For Their:
High strength-to-weight ratio, making them practical for recurring deployment by building staff.
Corrosion-resistant construction, suited to the marine environment along the Gulf.
Modular flood log design with customized sizing, allowing customization to fit the unique mix of garage openings, service doors, and mechanical penetrations at St. Croix.
Proven hurricane performance on similar projects throughout Florida and the United States.
Fully USA-made with high quality manufacturing in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Third party engineering and testing reports.
4. Specialized Hammerhead Swing Gates™ for Egress
A central concern for the Naples Fire Marshal was maintaining safe egress routes and responder access while still achieving full perimeter flood protection. Certain paths and doors could not be permanently blocked with rigid panels.
To meet egress requirements, Garrison offers the specialized Hammerhead Swing Gates™ for key openings:
Gates are designed as structural flood barriers when closed, with frame and hardware sized for the same hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads as adjacent panels.
Integrated compression sealing systems ensured a tight water barrier along the sill and jambs, even under load.
Hammerhead Swing Gates™ are configured to:
Maintain required clear egress width and swing direction, including room for the opening door to open within the gate enclosure.
Accept panic release hardware and locking arrangements compatible with life-safety codes
Be operated quickly and repeatably by onsite staff before and after storm events
These swing gates allowed the project team to satisfy both floodproofing and fire code requirements without sacrificing accessibility for residents or emergency personnel.
5. Coordination with City Officials
Throughout the design and permitting process, Garrison and the local engineering team:
Held discussions with the City of Naples building department and floodplain officials to align barrier design with evolving local flood mitigation guidance.
Addressed comments related to structural connections, inspection protocols, and documentation of barrier deployment procedures.
Worked directly with the Naples Fire Marshal to verify that escape routes, stair access, and equipment rooms would remain accessible under both everyday and storm-conditions operating modes.
This proactive engagement minimized back-and-forth revisions and supported a smoother permit approval process for a complex, multi-building retrofit.
SUMMARY:
After back-to-back coastal flooding events from Hurricanes Ian and Milton, St. Croix Club’s leadership chose to move from reactive repair to proactive flood resilience. By partnering with Garrison Flood Control and a Naples-based engineering team, the condominium successfully:
Designed and permitted a code-compliant Hammerhead™ Aluminum Flood Panel and Swing Gate™ system protecting critical electrical, mechanical, and garage areas across three buildings.
Navigated Naples’ stringent multi-family flood mitigation permitting requirements with a thorough engineering package, including load calculations, marked floor plans, and third-party product analyses.
Met the Fire Marshal’s egress and access standards through custom Hammerhead Swing Gates™ that combine robust flood protection with safe, functional passageways.
Reduced the likelihood that future storm surge events along Gulf Shore Boulevard will take the property out of service for months or require another round of costly lower-level reconstruction.
Residents and the condominium board now have confidence that critical infrastructure is protected in a way that satisfies both regulators and first responders.
Watch the Case Study Project Video Overview
The Hammerhead™ Aluminum Flood-Log System is constructed with industrial 6063-T6 anodized aluminum, with 316L marine-grade 316L stainless steel hardware for maximum durability and corrosion resistance.
Flood walls were engineered using finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to withstand hydrostatic, hydrodynamic, and impact loads.
Modular, easily deployed system ready to defend against hurricanes, severe weather or future superstorm events.
100% USA manufactured to the highest quality domestic standards, ensuring exceptional reliability and durability, with a quick turnaround to meet urgent project timelines.
Garrison™ Flood Control is a leading manufacturer and distributor of a complete line of flood control products. Garrison products contain, divert, and re-route water away from valuable property, equipment, infrastructure, and facilities and help prevent flood damage due to rising water levels.
For additional information about Garrison Flood Control Systems, please call 929-299-2099 or email sales@garrisonflood.com.
