robin1234

I was looking at the new building right next door yesterday, quite close to the destroyed building. (7801 I think its street number is.) Several apartments for sale, in the $2 million to $10 million range.

scrubbedexpat091

Canada's consul general in Miami saying there are 4 Canadian's linked to the condo building who are currently unaccounted for.

Boomhauer

Some of the news articles are saying the swimming pool is the culprit, that it was not built properly so leaking water compromised the foundation around the building.

It's just stunning that such an expensive condo complex did not get the issues fixed, despite years of warnings.

RICH

I think it is too early to assign blame/reason, but it is vital to figure it out eventually,

steveq

Our younger son, now a civil engineering grad student, said within hours of hearing about it what he expected the cause of the failure to be, and he seems to have nailed it. How many of these buildings, given where they are, have had their foundations lapped with sea water periodically over the last 30 years ? There's a huge amount of forensic investigation needed along the whole coastline of Miami.

RICH

It is crazy to think that I as a florida resident for 12 years am aware of concrete/rebar degradation. Not saying thats what happened, but its not a new idea

robin1234

One tidbit I read - the inspection report was issued in 2018, it’s nine pages long, easy to read, highlights several potentially serious issues that need addressing soon, to prevent them getting worse.

A few months later, the building’s board had a meeting, attended by someone from the town, who (by his statement) went over the inspection report, and reiterated that the board needed to get this expensive work done, as a matter of urgency.

The minutes of the board simply state, the representative from the town told us our building is in great shape.

Wishful thinking?

Former Lancastrian

Loosely translated the costs to fix it were enormous and they didn't fancy telling each condo owner that they would have a special assessment of thousands of dollars once fixed.

robin1234

Probably hundreds of thousands per unit, assuming the total cost would have been in the tens of millions ..

excpomea

This is exactly what finally forced us to sell our condo in Ft Lauderdale, after one $16,000 special assessment to repair concrete on the condo balconies we were done. (We didn't even have a balcony)
So glad to have that off of our backs

excpomea

I thought I read the repair quote was $3,000,000 So about $20K per unit.


This is exactly what finally forced us to sell our condo in Ft Lauderdale, after one $16,000 special assessment to repair concrete on the condo balconies we were done. (We didn't even have a balcony)
So glad to have that off of our backs

robin1234

I believe I read they’d already raised, and spent, $12 million on part of the required remediation, before the collapse. And that was only part.

scrubbedexpat091

My MIL sold her condo after each unit was hit with a 50,000 special assessment to fix building envelope problems, was a 1990's built condo and part of the "leaky" condo problem of the 1990's, just after she sold, the owners were hit with another 30,000 special assessment to fix the fire sprinkler system. In under 2 years each unit was hit with 70,000 in special assessment charges.

Former Lancastrian

Now the fun begins with lawyers and insurance companies and who if anyone will ever be held responsible for negligence etc etc.

yellowroom

Seems like the collapsed apartment block in Miami regularly suffered from saltwater ingress into the parking garage over many years. Having your load bearing reinforced concrete pillars soaking in saltwater would not seem to be a good strategy, and I wonder how much of the 2018 report referencing cracks and crumbling concrete underplayed the problems.

Can’t be the only building along that coast with the issue. I wonder if there will end up being parallels with Grenfell in that condo owners suddenly find themselves owning a property that is too dangerous to live in with no recourse to the builders.