A 14-story Miami Beach building on the same avenue where last year’s Surfside condominium collapse killed almost 100 people was evacuated quickly due to an evacuation order.
The city placed an unsafe structure warning at the Port Royale condominium on Thursday evening, according to an email from Miami Beach spokesperson Melissa Berthier.
The evacuation of the 164-unit building, which is undergoing a mandatory recertification, was sparked by a structural engineering assessment.
According to the study, an engineer determined that a main support beam indicated for repair ten months ago had shifted and that a break in the beam had grown. Other structural supports may also require repair.
One resident, remodeling contractor Marash Markaj, who has resided in the building for more than six years, stated that the damage is not limited to a single support beam.
Markaj stated, “I’ve noticed the concerns for many years.”
He claimed that he attempted to notify building management and the city’s construction authorities about the problems, which included cracks in a column and water pooling for weeks in the garage area.
“I was never able to receive an answer,” he said, adding that he felt “unsafe” living in the property due to the manner in which its upkeep was handled.
In a letter to the city, Inspection Engineers Inc. stated that it is attempting to secure a city permit so that ‘extensive shoring’ can be constructed within 10 days. The structure, which was erected in 1971, will then undergo a second inspection.
In an email to the Miami Beach Building Department, Arshad Vioar stated that engineers discovered “areas of concern that we classified as a priority to be addressed” during an inspection conducted roughly ten months ago.
The association of the building chose a contractor, and repairs began approximately four weeks ago.
The business that evaluated the structure was asked to supervise the work, and this week ‘saw that one of the major beams in the garage had sustained a structural displacement of about half an inch, and that an existing crack indicated for repair had grown,’ Vioar wrote in an email.
Felicia Flores, 71, who lived in the building for 15 years and has since relocated to her daughter’s home nearby, was among the few condo occupants who returned to the site Friday morning to check what was happening. She strolled past with her small puppy.
She stated that the structure had been under construction for a few weeks, but that on Thursday something had changed.
Flores stated, “It looks there was something more serious, so we had to leave abruptly.”
According to Samy Bosch, who resided in the building for nine years, the inhabitants were given a very short amount of time to vacate. Thursday at 5 p.m., they were informed that they must vacate the premises by 7 p.m.
We do not know what is happening inside, but we cannot remain. This is it,’ Bosch said as he returned to the spot on a scooter on Friday morning.
The Port Royale is approximately 1.9 kilometers south of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Florida, which collapsed in June 2021, killing 98 people.
The accident at the 12-story Surfside beachside condo building prompted the largest non-hurricane emergency response in Florida’s recorded history, with rescue crews from across the United States and as far away as Israel assisting local teams in their hunt for victims.
Since the Surfside collapse, other buildings in South Florida have been evacuated due to similar safety concerns.
The accident drew attention to the structural stability of Florida’s elderly condominium complexes, particularly along its beaches, and the state has since strengthened legislation mandating inspections and periodic recertification of buildings.
After 40 years, Miami-Dade County mandated the first recertification, and the Surfside building was undergoing recertification when it fell.
New state regulations passed into law in May stipulate that buildings must be recertified after 30 years, or 25 years if they are within 3 miles of the shore, and thereafter every 10 years.
A 2018 engineering analysis showed the subterranean parking garage’s fractured and deteriorated concrete support beams and other issues that would cost roughly $10 million to repair.
In 2021, the estimate climbed to $15 million as the owners of the building’s 136 units and its governing condo board argued over the expense, particularly when a Surfside town inspector informed them that the building was safe.
The 2018 engineering assessment uncovered structural flaws that are currently the subject of many investigations, including a grand jury probe.
A definitive judgment regarding the cause will likely not be reached for years. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is leading the federal investigation into the collapse, has announced that invasive testing on samples of material from the collapse site will commence soon.
Physical evidence from the collapsed and imploded sections of Champlain Towers South is housed in a secure facility in Miami-Dade County, where it has been cataloged and analyzed by members of the National Construction Safety Team investigating the collapse on June 24, 2021.
The tests will assist investigators in identifying potential faults in the building’s structural components by examining density, porosity, and the presence of corrosion, according to NIST.
In reaction to the accident, Florida would mandate recertification of condominiums taller than three storeys, per legislation signed into law by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis last month.
The death toll from the fall of the Champlain Towers is among the greatest in U.S. history for such catastrophes.
The Hyatt Regency walkway collapse in 1981 claimed 114 lives, while a Massachusetts mill tragedy in 1860 claimed between 88 and 145.