When it was constructed in 2009, Trump Hollywood was one of the most talked-about new condos in Hollywood Beach, Florida. The showcase beachfront property is situated between South Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Its unique, multi-angular structure helps the 41-floor structure stand out from its plain and boxy neighbors.

With 200 exclusive residences and an elegant two-story lobby designed by noted design firm Yabu Pushelberg, the building quickly became a coveted address for people desiring luxury living and high-end amenities.

Building Exteriors and the Challenges of Coastal Living

As with every building in coastal Florida, the exterior of Trump Hollywood is exposed to punishing environmental conditions including high UV rays, high humidity, salt spray, and windborne sand. Over the years, these environmental assaults broke down the builder-applied acrylic coating on the building’s stucco surface, leaving it chalky and dull.

Beyond lackluster curb appeal, degraded coatings can leave a building’s substrate bare and open to damage from the elements. This can lead to costly, time-consuming repair or replacement of façade materials.

Ingredients for a Successful Restoration

Capital Contractor Services of Hallandale, Florida, was engaged to give the luxury building a facelift and restore its luster. Capital has years of experience providing exterior façade coating and other restoration services to meet the needs of condominium boards, management and commercial property owners. Capital’s philosophy is that projects are not just about the outcome, they’re about the experience.

“Trump Hollywood’s name-brand prestige, size, unique shape and location, coupled with the fact that it was occupied by residents who didn’t want to be inconvenienced during the façade restoration process, made it imperative for us to work deliberately, safely and with a high level of quality,” said Alex Forjan, executive vice president, Exterior Division, Capital Contractor Services.

Forjan noted it was also imperative to use high-quality products – coatings that would look good when applied and would provide long-lasting performance. For this, they turned to APV Engineered Coatings and its line of NeverFade® Exterior Restoration Coatings. NeverFade® Coatings contain Kynar Aquatec®, a water-based polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) resin that is ideal for air-dry, field-applied coatings. The premium, weather-resistant coating can be easily applied to a variety of substrates, including metals, plastics, wood, concrete, stucco, EIFS and previously painted surfaces.

"The use of Kynar Aquatec® and complex inorganic pigments gives NeverFade® the ability to resist film erosion, chalking and fading caused by harsh UV exposure," explained Ernie Porco, application engineer, APV Engineered Coatings. "As a result, we are able to provide a 15-year product-and-labor guarantee to building owners, which states that if the coating fades by a Delta-E of five or higher, we will replace the product and cover the labor cost of re-coating.

Porco noted that NeverFade® Certified Applicators like Capital go through special training to learn about the chemistry behind the product. They also learn details around pre-job testing, color matching, application mock-ups, on-the-job troubleshooting, and post-installation quality assurance, all providing confidence that NeverFade® will perform throughout its 20+ year lifecycle.

Comprehensive Project with Safety at the Forefront

Restoring the condo building’s exterior involved more than just a fresh coat of paint. The 1.5-year project included:

• A full-building inspection to identify areas where delaminated stucco needed to be replaced.
• Replacement of delaminated stucco.
• Power washing of all stucco surfaces to remove dirt, salts and other surface contaminants.
• Scuff sanding of factory-finished aluminum window and sliding door frames to remove corroded metal.
• Removal and replacement of sealants surrounding the window/door frames.
• A 100-square-foot mock-up on the ground level to test surface adhesion, inter-coat adhesion, mil thicknesses and color/sheen matching against project specifications.
• Roller application of two coats of NeverFade® W-1500 Primer (total 1 mil dry thickness) and one coat of NeverFade® Original Restoration Topcoat (total 2 mil dry thickness) to all stucco surfaces.
• Roller application of two coats of NeverFade® W-1650 Bonding Primer and one coat of NeverFade® Metal Restoration Topcoat to all metal window and door frames.
• Final walk throughs with building management and the building maintenance supervisor, City of Hollywood Building Department, and owner representative Paramount Consulting. 

The Capital crew took special care to limit inconveniences to residents and ensure their safety throughout the project. When and where possible, they restricted residents’ ground access in the areas being worked on. When that wasn’t possible – in pool and beach walkway areas and active driveways – Capital utilized overhead scaffolding with netting or plywood to protect residents and vehicles. The coatings’ low VOC content and low odor also kept tenant inconvenience to a minimum.

“The unique angles of the high-rise building made access a challenge,” Forjan said. “We used swing stages and vertical line drops to complete each section of the building with rollers to eliminate the need to lug heavy spray equipment and the potential for wind-borne spray.”

To maintain project site safety during coastal storms that packed high winds, Capital completely de-mobilized the project – removing all equipment – and re-mobilized four times through the project.

Long-Term, Worry-Free Maintenance

It can be difficult to find an exterior coating that stands up to the high humidity, extreme UV rays and corrosive power of salt spray for more than five years without fading. NeverFade® Coatings have given the Trump Hollywood Building a clean, fresh exterior in a custom-color matched shade of white, with a high level of gloss to make the white pop.

“A high-performance coating is critical for white exterior surfaces, especially in high humidity environments,” Porco concluded. “When latex and urethane paints break down and the paint film turns chalky, it is not always noticeable against the white surface, but the paint is losing its protective qualities.”

The long-lasting, color retention performance of NeverFade® means the building owners won’t incur the expense and disruption of repainting every five years or so, as is typical with acrylic-based latex coatings in coastal Florida. Plus, the coating’s low surface energy and strong molecular bonds give it the durability to resist the dirt, bugs, mold and mildew that can turn its vibrant exterior into a maintenance-intensive eyesore.