Law enforcement knows Florida condos need upgrades — but have let them dodge requirements for years: report

Sarah K. Burris
July 04, 2021

Part of the 12- story oceanfront Champlain Towers South Condo, with more than 100 units at 8777 Collins Avenue, collapsed on June 24, 2021. - Amy Beth Bennett/TNS

It has been reported that the Sunshine, Florida condo that collapsed last month had serious structural issues that were necessary. But the New York Times reported Sunday evening that even law enforcement was aware that the necessary improvements weren't being made.

"The city of North Miami Beach had tried and failed for years to bring a 10-story condo building within its borders, Crestview Towers, into compliance with the 40-year recertification requirements," the report explained. "When the building's condo association finally submitted the required paperwork last week, about nine years late, it documented critical safety concerns, a city spokesman said. Officials evacuated the building on Friday."

But things get so much worse.

"Meanwhile, the same local governments were pursuing a haphazard approach to identifying other potentially unsafe buildings across the region, with the age and height criteria that would prompt added scrutiny varying from one place to the next," said the Times. "At least one local government, the village of Key Biscayne, was opting to conduct no extra inspections at all, an official there said.

If the building inspectors focused only on the 10-story building done in the 1970s and 1980s it would still be "daunting." At least 270 of those such buildings stand in Miami-Dade County.

It turns out that through the 1980s and 1990s corruption was running through the building inspector's office.

"Grand jury inquiries through the 1980s and 1990s documented slipshod work by Miami-area building inspectors, though much of that scrutiny focused on inspections of single-family homes," said the Times. "Other criminal investigations have singled out government employees for taking gifts from developers, including, most recently, the top building official in Miami Beach."

But, there's still no proof that buildings constructed then are any better or worse than others. The data shows that more than 30 high-rise buildings in the Miami area from the late 1970s to the late 1980s have various states of repair.

"Eleven of those towers were 12 stories or higher and built in the three years preceding the construction of Champlain Towers South," said the Times. "All are now past the age at which they should have submitted reports proving they had been scrutinized by an engineer for structural and electrical problems."

After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, developers complained about new building requirements for homes, but the standards for buildings were even stricter because leaders wanted to ensure that they wouldn't come crumbling down in a hurricane. There are 14 structures in Bay Harbor Islands that were slated to submit a 40-year inspection report last year, but six have yet to respond. The town sent certified letters to three property owners but they were returned. Only one has completed the process.

"The small number of buildings that have yet to comply with the 40-year inspection have already received a notice of violation, and they are subject to fines if they do not timely comply with the certification process," Maria Lasday, the town manager of Bay Harbor Islands," the Times said citing an email from her.

In North Miami Beach, the Crestview Towers was had to be evacuated after the city fined the building for refusing to comply with the requirements. There's still no word on whether the building actually paid the fines. Only after the Champlain Tower collapsed did Crestview turn in its recertification report. Their lawyer swears that it was sent to the city, but there's no record of that.

Read the full report at the New York Times.