Four years after the Surfside condo collapse, families of the 98 people who died still don’t know why the building toppled. It will be at least another year before they get answers.
This means the Champlain Towers South investigation will take longer than the probes into the collapse of the Florida International University pedestrian bridge in 2018 and the World Trade Center twin towers in 2001. With more than $40 million allocated so far, the Surfside investigation also is costlier.
“It’s been four years, 98 dead. And there’s no answers and no accountability,” Martin Langesfeld, whose sister and brother-in-law died in the collapse, told Surfside commissioners on Tuesday.
Langesfeld’s comments came hours after the National Institute of Standards and Technology presented its preliminary findings.
So far, evidence shows the collapse beginning in the pool deck, which started to cave in at least seven minutes before the tower toppled. Investigators said the pool deck’s design wasn’t up to code, and slab reinforcements weren’t placed per design requirements. Nearly all of the deck’s construction joints didn’t have steel reinforcement dowels, and the concrete “keys” in the joints were either improperly built or missing, NIST’s Glenn Bell said. This could have allowed for water to seep in, leading to corrosion and cracking of slab reinforcements.
Investigators also outlined a slew of issues that appeared at Champlain before the collapse. Hours before the tragedy, a water drip turned into a “faucet,” investigators said, likely referring to a widely circulated video that shows water gushing into the underground garage. Weeks before that, a gate between the pool deck and street-level parking deck jammed, and about a month prior, a sliding glass door came off its tracks.
Notably, the location of some of these issues coincides with the placement of improperly built construction joints, investigators said.
NIST, which originally expected to release its final report this year, says draft reports will be submitted next year.
“We share the public’s desire to have answers,” said NIST’s Judith Mitrani-Reiser, “and what we can do to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
NIST, in a statement, said it “shared from the beginning of this investigation that it would be especially complex, given the lack of any obvious cause, such as a fire or plane crash.”
But the delays are frustrating and painful to family members.
Langesfeld agreed that the investigation is vital for the safety of condo residents across Florida. Someone has to answer for the failures at Champlain, he added.
“This tragedy requires criminal accountability. Who developed and constructed this building? Who approved this building? There are many potential parties that must be investigated,” he told town commissioners. “This was not a natural disaster, this was not a hurricane. This was a preventable human error.”
What we’re thinking about: Michael Shvo sold one Miami Beach development site in a deal we heard was close to the amount of the loan backing the property. He is still trying to hang onto the Raleigh assemblage. What’s going on with his One Soundscape Park property? Send me a note at kk@therealdeal.com.
CLOSING TIME
Residential: Ex-Apple CEO John Sculley and his wife, Diane, sold an oceanfront estate at 1214 North Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach for $37 million. The buyer was Chestnut Park Holdings LLC.
Commercial: The purchase price for the Bikini Hostel at 1247 West Avenue, scooped up by Michael Stern’s JDS and David Martin’s Terra, hit records this week, coming in at $20 million. The acquisition was part of a larger, $120 million development site that includes the bulk purchase of Bay Garden Manor at 1250 West Avenue, where the developers plan to construct a waterfront condo tower.
— Research by Mary Diduch
NEW TO THE MARKET
The oceanfront estate at 1610 North Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach hit the market for $65 million. The nearly 9,800-square-foot mansion, with six bedrooms and seven and a half bathrooms, was built in 2018 on a 0.9-acre lot. It’s on the market with Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties. Records show it last sold in 2019 for $25.5 million.
Obituaries
Last week, we reported on the death of Douglas Elliman agent Darin Tansey, who was found dead at his condo at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach, at the age of 50. We also learned that Danny Zelonker, a commercial broker who focused on industrial real estate, died in August. He was 75.
Elsewhere in Florida
- A Florida appeals court struck down the state’s decades-old ban on openly carrying firearms, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Politico reports. The ruling reverses prior precedent and could have major implications for gun laws and tourism in the state.
- The Miami-Dade School Board voted to sue South Florida Public Media Group, which manages the public radio station WLRN, over its $6.5 million purchase of a station in West Palm Beach, WLRN reports.
- The Z Ocean Hotel in South Beach was shut down after months of unpaid electricity bills, prompting the Miami Beach Fire Department to evacuate the building even though it was already vacant. It’s unclear if the closure is temporary or permanent, according to the Miami Herald.