North Beach apartment building deemed unsafe, ordered evacuated

Miami Beach deemed Devon Apartments at 6881 Indian Creek Drive unsafe and issued an order to evacuate on Monday, according to an attorney representing the building’s landlords and the city’s spokesperson.

Manny J. Vadillo, the attorney representing 6881 Indian Creek LLC, told The Real Deal that the 14
residents who remain will be given a week to find alternative locations.

“My clients will continue to work with the city, and will be working with tenants to help them move,”
Vadillo said via email.

Miami Beach’s spokesperson confirmed that the tenants will have until July 19 to vacate. “Although the structural components of this two-story, 30-unit building shows deficiencies, our building official has determined that this building is not in danger of imminent collapse,” the spokesperson wrote in a text to TRD.

According to Vadillo, his clients were already planning to tear down Devon Apartments, built in 1939, by December so that the building can be replaced with townhouses. The triangle-shaped property was re-zoned to allow townhouses in May 2017, according to the RE: Miami Beach blog.

In 2017, 6881 Indian Creek LLC purchased Devon Apartments for $4.5 million. Real estate investors Fausto Callava, Mara Callava, and Antonio Pardo control 6881 Indian Creek LLC, records show.

Vadillo said his clients were phasing out tenants at Devon Apartments prior to being notified by the city that the building was unsafe. “Since May the tenancy has been reduced from 28 to 16, of which seven are not paying rent, and five are presently in the process of vacating,” Vadilla said.

Following the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Miami-Dade County and many municipalities are taking a hard look at buildings over the age of 40, which are already required to go through a recertification process.

At least three buildings have already been shuttered due to structural concerns.

On July 2nd, North Miami Beach officials evacuated about 300 people from Crestview Towers after an overdue engineering report submitted by the condominium declared that the structure was unsafe. The evacuation order for Crestview will remain until at least Tuesday, North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur Duke Sorey told TRD. Besides providing additional proof that Crestview Towers can be occupied, Sorey also wants Crestview Towers’ condo association to show that it can pay for the needed repairs.

On July 3rd, Miami Beach building officials evacuated Champs Elysees, a 24-unit Art Deco condominium constructed in 1925, after a building inspector discovered a flooring system failure in a vacant unit as well as “excessive deflection on an exterior wall,” according to Miami Beach’s spokesperson.

And on Saturday, the Miami-Dade Courthouse at 73 West Flagler in Miami, constructed in 1928, was shut down, reportedly due to structural concerns.

Miami Beach City Manager Alina Hudak sent out inspectors to perform visual inspections for 507 buildings older than 40 years of age, and told building owners and associations to provide reports proving that the structures can be occupied.

So far, nine buildings have been flagged for possible structural problems, including Devon Apartments.

Monday afternoon, Harding Hall Condominium Association tweeted notices from the city’s building department declaring that the balconies for the seven-story condo at 8233 Harding Avenue in Miami Beach are unsafe.

“All balconies must be sealed within 48 hours, and electrical repairs submitted within 30 days,” the spokesperson said, referring to Harding Hall, which was constructed in 1967.