An evacuation order has abruptly evicted residents of a 14-story Miami Beach building on the same street where nearly 100 people died in last year’s Surfside condominium collapse.
The city issued a notice Thursday night about unsafe structures in the Port Royale gated community, Miami Beach spokeswoman Melissa Berthier said in an email.
A structural report prompted the evacuation of the 164-unit building, which is currently undergoing required recertification.
An engineer discovered that a main beam that was scheduled for repair 10 months ago had shifted and that a crack in the beam had widened and other structural supports may also need repair, the report said.
One resident, renovation contractor Marash Markaj, who lived in the building for more than six years, said the damage extended beyond a single support beam.
Caution tape blocks the Port Royale building at 6969 Collins Ave after it was evacuated Thursday over concerns about its structural safety in Miami Beach
An unsafe construction notice marks the chained-off beachfront entrance to the Port Royale building at 6969 Collins Ave
The city issued a notice Thursday night about unsafe structures in the Port Royale gated community, Miami Beach spokeswoman Melissa Berthier said in an email
A few small cracks can be seen in the exterior concrete on the Port Royale building’s beach front
“I’ve been observing the problems for many years,” Markaj said.
He added that he tried to report the problems – including cracks in a pillar and water that had stood in the garage area for weeks – to the city’s building management and building department.
“I was never able to get an answer,” he said, adding that he felt “uncertain” about the building and the way the building’s maintenance was managed.
Inspection Engineers Inc. said in a letter to the city that it is working to obtain city approval so that a “major shoring” can be installed within 10 days. This is followed by another inspection of the building erected in 1971.
During an inspection about 10 months ago, engineers found “areas of concern that we have identified as priorities for repair,” Arshad Vioar said in an email sent to the Miami Beach Building Department.
Inspection Engineers Inc. said in a letter to the city that it is working to obtain city approval so that a “major shoring” can be installed within 10 days. This is followed by another inspection of the building erected in 1971
During an inspection about 10 months ago, engineers found “areas of concern that we have identified as priorities for repair,” Arshad Vioar said in an email sent to the Miami Beach Building Department
The housing association selected a contractor and repairs began about four weeks ago.
The company that inspected the building was asked to oversee the work and noted this week that one of the main beams in the garage had experienced structural deflection of approximately ½ inch and also the existing crack which was marked for repair , had been extended,” Vioar said in the email.
Among the few residents of the condominium who returned to the grounds Friday morning to see what was happening was Felicia Flores, 71, who lived in the building for 15 years and now lives with her daughter nearby. She swung by while walking her little dog.
She said work had been going on on the building for a few weeks, but something changed on Thursday.
“It seems something more serious happened, so we had to leave all of a sudden,” Flores said.
Coast Guard boats patrol the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South residential building in Surfside
Search and rescue workers work on the rubble of the Champlain Towers South apartment building
Miami Beach officials said condo owners who rent their units are on the hook under local law to cover temporary housing for renters for up to three months or until the building is habitable again.
Samy Bosch, who lived in the building for nine years, said residents were given very little time to move out. At 5pm on Thursday they were told they had to be out by 7pm
“We don’t know exactly what’s going on in there, but we can’t stay. That’s it,” Bosch said as he rode a scooter back to observe the scene on Friday morning.
The Port Royale is about 1.3 miles south of the Champlain Towers South residential building in Surfside, Fla., also on Collins Avenue, where 98 people were killed in a June 2021 collapse.
The disaster at the 12-story oceanfront Surfside condominium building prompted the largest non-hurricane emergency response in Florida history, including rescue teams from across the United States and even Israel to help local teams search for victims.
Family members of the dead, who are listed on a screen surrounding the vacant lot where the 12-story building collapsed, said they wanted answers from authorities. It may be another year before they receive replies
Rescuers work in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside
Other South Florida buildings have been evacuated since the Surfside collapse due to similar safety concerns.
The disaster focused on the structural integrity of aging condo towers across Florida, especially along the coasts, and the state has since tightened laws requiring inspections and periodic building recertification.
Miami-Dade County had not required the first recertification for 40 years, and the Surfside building was undergoing that recertification process when it collapsed.
New state regulations that went into effect in May require buildings to have their first recertification at 30 years, or at 25 years if they are within 3 miles of shore, and every 10 years thereafter.
A 2018 engineering report detailed cracked and damaged concrete beams in the underground parking lot and other problems that would cost nearly $10 million to fix.
The repairs didn’t happen, and the estimate rose to $15 million in 2021 when owners of the building’s 136 units and the governing condominium board disputed the cost, particularly after an inspector from the city of Surfside told them the building is safe.
The 2018 technical report identified structural deficiencies that are now the focus of several investigations, including a grand jury investigation.
A definitive conclusion on the cause is likely years away. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is leading the federal investigation into the collapse, recently said invasive testing of material samples from the collapse site will begin soon.
A woman adds flowers to the memorial on June 28
Workers pump water from the foundation of the former Champlain Towers South building
Physical evidence from both the collapsed and imploded sections of the Champlain Towers South is being held at a secure warehouse in Miami-Dade County, where it will be cataloged and analyzed by members of the National Construction Safety Team investigating the June 24, 2021 collapse were rated
Andrea Langesfeld, center, and her husband Pablo, right rear, parents of Nicole “Nicky” Langesfeld, who died in the Surfside, Fla., condo collapse, embrace as they attend a ceremony to unveil a sign for ” Nicky Langesfeld Place”. ‘ Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Doral, Fla. Langesfeld grew up in Doral before moving to Surfside
Neil Handler talks about how his son Jonah was trapped in a pocket of fallen concrete after the collapse
The tests will help investigators find potential flaws in the building’s structural elements by examining things like the density of the materials, how porous they were and whether there was corrosion, NIST said.
Florida will require a statewide recertification of condos taller than three stories under new legislation Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law last month in response to the disaster.
The death toll from the Champlain Towers collapse is among the highest in US history among similar disasters.
The 1981 Hyatt Regency collapse killed 114 people, and a Massachusetts factory disaster in 1860 killed between 88 and 145 workers.