Disaster-site idea weighed in Florida

A proposed land swap to allow for an on-site memorial to the victims of a deadly beachfront condominium collapse in Florida will be examined for financial viability, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Many survivors and the family members of victims from the Champlain Towers South collapse oppose a memorial at a nearby Miami Beach park. And many are uneasy about replacing the fallen building with a luxury structure on what they regard as sacred ground.

“We think it’s kind of a burial site,” said Carlos Wainberg, who lost several family members in the June 24 disaster in Surfside, Fla., and favors the land-swap idea.

Investigators are trying to determine what caused the 12-story building to collapse, killing 98 people.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, who is overseeing lawsuits filed after the collapse, told a court-appointed receiver to investigate the proposed swap.

“It is something that is going to be looked at,” Hanzman said at a status hearing. “There will never be enough to fully compensate everyone.”

Under the proposal, a new Surfside community center containing a Champlain memorial would be built on the collapse site. In exchange, land on which the existing 10-yearold community center now sits would be sold to provide compensation to survivors and to victims’ family members.

A proposal to purchase the existing Champlain site for about $120 million is still being negotiated, with other bids expected. A complicating factor is the potential that the town will enact a zoning change that could reduce the property’s value.

Surfside officials said a Sept. 9 workshop is scheduled on the zoning issue, but no vote by the Town Council has been set. The zoning question has to do with how much density — in other words, potential condo units — would be permitted in a new building.