Surfside leaders oppose moving community center to build condo memorial

MIAMI — The judge overseeing the fate of the Champlain Towers South property said this week he would consider a land-swap proposal to facilitate the creation of an on-site memorial to victims of the June 24 condo collapse — but only if the town of Surfside agrees to relocate an existing community center to make way for a new luxury condo tower.

The idea, which would see a new community center built alongside the memorial, has the support of some of the family members who lost loved ones in the collapse. But it may be a nonstarter.

Most Surfside commissioners came out against the proposal Wednesday, with one calling it “delusional” to consider tearing down the town’s storied civic center.

“A land swap for our community’s most precious resource — our residents’ cherished Surfside Community Center is NEVER happening. NEVER,” Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer wrote in an email to town staff Wednesday.

Three members of the five-person commission reached by the Miami Herald said they would not consider the plan.

“Our town-owned property is not for sale,” Commissioner Nelly Velasquez said in a statement. She noted that in last November’s election, voters passed a charter amendment requiring that any sale or exchange of townowned land first be approved by four commissioners and at least 60% of voters in a referendum.

Vice Mayor Tina Paul said she is also against the swap.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, who has set into motion the sale of the former 12-story condo property to a private developer, said during a Wednesday court hearing held as part of a class action lawsuit filed by the estates of victims and survivors of the collapse, which killed 98 people, that he would consider the landswap proposal. Hanzman had previously supported building the memorial offsite in order to sell the collapse site for the highest price — there is currently a bid of $120 million — to compensate victims’ families and survivors.

Manny Kadre, a businessman who has volunteered to work with local governments on a future memorial, said at the hearing that the land-swap proposal was brought up in a meeting Tuesday with survivors and loved ones of those who died in the collapse.

Some spoke in support of the idea at the court hearing, saying they preferred having a memorial on the site where 98 people died rather than a luxury highrise. Other ideas for the memorial include putting it in the North Beach Oceanside Park in neighboring Miami Beach or on 88th Street near the condo site.

Hanzman called the proposed land-swap a “winwin” because it gives families their preferred memorial site and will help net the most compensation for survivors and the estates of victims.

He directed the court-appointed receiver for the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association to explore the option, but noted the decision ultimately rests with the town of Surfside.

Surfside’s town attorney, Lillian Arango, sent an email to commissioners during Wednesday’s hearing asking what they thought about the landswap proposal. She said the proposal may be added to the agenda for the next commission meeting if a commissioner or the town manager wishes to discuss it.