Miami courthouse will undergo repairs
Safety inspection was prompted by deadly collapse of condo building in Surfside.
MIAMI — The MiamiDade County Courthouse will begin undergoing repairs because of safety concerns raised during an inspection prompted by the deadly collapse of a nearby condominium building, officials said.
An engineering firm that examined the 28-story courthouse recommended that it undergo immediate structural repairs and that floors 16 and above be closed. All courthouse employees, including those who work on lower floors, will return to working from home, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and other leaders said in a joint statement late Friday.
In its report, the engineering firm U.S. Structures Inc. said that during its June 30 inspection, it found distress in structural members such as support beams and joists, including steel columns that are in “poor condition” and concrete columns that have numerous cracks.
“In general, we observed numerous members with visible signs of structural deterioration that have been documented and reported by this and other firms for quite some time now. Many of these members are in an advanced state of deterioration,” inspector Jose Toledo wrote in the firm’s Tuesday letter to Miami-Dade County officials.
The announcement about the courthouse in Miami came during the third week of the search for victims of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside. On Saturday, authorities raised the confirmed death toll to 86, with 43 people still unaccounted for .
The courthouse, completed in 1928 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, is where most civil cases are heard and contains some administrative offices. Separate courthouses for criminal, children’s and family cases are not affected.
Employees only recently returned to the building after working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Court operations will go back to a remote format until the safety concerns are addressed. The court planned to notify people with court proceedings of the changes.
Several other buildings have been reviewed for any structural concerns, and some — including a condo building in North Miami Beach — have been evacuated.