Order to evacuate condo United States
The city of North Miami Beach ordered the evacuation of a condominium building yesterday after a review found unsafe conditions about 8 kilometres from the site of last week’s deadly collapse in South Florida.
An audit prompted by the collapse of Champlain Towers South in nearby Surfside found that the 156-unit Crestview Towers had been deemed structurally and electrically unsafe in January, the city said in a news release. Officials did not immediately release details about the structural problems that prompted the evacuation, but the building had reported millions of dollars in damage from 2017’s Hurricane Irma.
‘‘In an abundance of caution, the city ordered the building closed immediately and the residents evacuated for their protection, while a full structural assessment is conducted and next steps are determined,’’ city manager Arthur H Sorey III said.
It is the first building to be evacuated since municipal officials in South Florida, and statewide, began scrutinising older high-rises in the wake of the Surfside collapse to ensure that substantial structural problems are not being ignored.
It has also been revealed that the developer of a luxury Miami Beach high-rise next to the
Surfside condominium building was offering to pay $400,000 to the condo association of the older, smaller building two years ago, at a time when some homeowners were complaining about the proximity of the new building, the impact of vibrations and drifting debris, documents obtained by The Washington Post show.
Construction of Eighty Seven Park, which was finished in 2020, came ‘‘uncomfortably close’’ to the city boundary that Champlain Towers Guillermo Olmedillo, Surfside official, said.
‘‘We are concerned that the construction next to Surfside is too close,’’ homeowner and condo association board member Mara Chouela wrote in an email to Surfside building officials in January 2019, part of a set of emails from Champlain owners released by the town since the collapse. bordered South, former
a‘‘The terra project on Collins and 87 are digging too close to our property and we have concerns regarding the structure of our building.’’
8701 Collins Development LLC, which was set up by Terra Group and its partners to develop Eighty Seven Park, has previously stated that it is ‘‘confident that the construction of 87 Park did not cause or contribute to the collapse that took place in Surfside.’’
AP, Washington Post