FL- 12 Story Condo Partial Building Collapse, many still unaccounted for, Miami, 24 June 2021

[Dontknow?]

10 Tampa Bay
@10TampaBay
1m

Prosecutors will pursue a grand jury investigation into the deadly collapse of an oceanfront condominium building in #Surfside, officials said Tuesday.

Prosecutors will ask grand jury to probe Surfside condo collapse | wtsp.com

 

[Luna20]

Thought this was interesting. Sorry if previously posted. BBM.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252394393.html

Surfside official was sent disturbing report. He told board condo was ‘in good shape’

Rosalia Cordaro said she complained to condo officials about the “big, big, big crack” in the garage wall and the constant pool of water that appeared in the space where she parked her car in the underground garage at Champlain Towers South for more than two years.
....
The Cordaros bought their condo in 2019 for $525,000....she and the neighbors she became friends with would talk about “little things that bothered us.”

Her front door never closed properly. There was always water leaking into the garage. And when she and her friend, Linda March, sat by the pool, they noticed cracks in the foundation.

When they asked the building manager about it, “They would always say: ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re going to fix that’,’’ Cordaro said. “And when I would complain about the [garage] cracks, nobody listened to me.”
....

When 40-year reviews take place, the cost to residents can be steep. Unit owners at Champlain Towers South were expected to be assessed based on the square footage of their property.

The Cordaros said they received a bill for $95,000 to pay for the building repairs and renovation. They said they sent the check just two weeks ago.

Cordaro said she was told the work had to do with the balcony and does not recall any discussion of foundation issues or plans to repair the issues with the garage.

An individual resident payed $95,000 to pay for the building repairs? Did every resident get the same bill??

 

[sds71]

I think this is the third suit filed.

Adam Schwartzbaum, Rodriguez’s lawyer, grew up in the building — his grandparents lived there. He said his family complained about water intrusion in the parking garage, and the building was sued over it back in 2003.

“We’re talking 15-20 years ago,” Schwartzbaum said Tuesday. “This is a problem that’s been in the building for decades.”


…He said Rodriguez "recently" took a photograph that is included in the complaint that depicts a crack in the concrete above her parking space in the condo's garage. He said Rodriguez shared the photo with the association "after a giant piece of concrete landed behind her car... to try to put them on notice of this."

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252448318.html

Another lawsuit has been filed against the condo association after deadly collapse in Surfside - CNN

 

[dixiegirl1035]

10 Tampa Bay
@10TampaBay
1m

Prosecutors will pursue a grand jury investigation into the deadly collapse of an oceanfront condominium building in #Surfside, officials said Tuesday.

Prosecutors will ask grand jury to probe Surfside condo collapse | wtsp.com

Whoa, that sounds very premature to me with a grand jury. They don't have all the evidence and all is preliminary. Grand jury already = criminal vs. civil? Perhaps legal stuff that then allows other stuff to follow?

 

[Chelly]

‘A wall of dust hit me.’ Lawsuit details Surfside condo collapse survivor’s harrowing tale
Raysa Rodriguez, a retired postal worker, lived in Unit 907 of Champlain Towers South for 17 years. She was a few payments away from paying off her mortgage.

But the dream retirement ended in the middle of the night, when a giant rumble shook her from her sleep. The building, Rodriguez wrote in a dramatic first-person account included in a newly filed lawsuit, “swayed like a piece of paper.”

She switched on the bedroom lamp — but there was no power. She ran to the balcony “and a wall of dust hit me.”

Phone calls to the her neighbor, and her brother, went unanswered. Rodriguez ran into the hallway. “I looked left to the north end of the building. A concrete column had pierced the hallway from floor to ceiling. I looked at the elevators. The elevator shafts were exposed, the doors were gone,” Rodriguez wrote.

When she sprinted to the stairwell exit, Rodriguez opened the door and saw a scene out of an apocalypse movie. “The beach side of Champlain had collapsed, pancaked,” she wrote. “I screamed in horror.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252448318.html

 

[Chelly]

How Authorities Are Identifying The Victims Of The Florida Condo Collapse
While rescuers continue to search for survivors amid the rubble from the building collapse in Surfside, Fla., law enforcement detectives and crime scene personnel are working to identify the human remains recovered from the wreckage.

Identifying the victims is a complicated process. At a press conference Monday, Miami-Dade Police Department Director Alfredo Ramirez III said the procedure depends on multiple variables, including the condition of the remains recovered.
....
Relatives of the missing — the number of unaccounted for stands at more than 150 — have been asked by law enforcement to submit DNA to help identify the bodies and human remains pulled from the rubble.

"The moment that sample is taken, that detective, that analyst will run directly to the family unification center where it's entered into a system," Ramirez said, so it can be matched with DNA from family members. A DNA profile match can be made in less than two hours.
How Authorities Are Identifying The Victims Of The Florida Condo Collapse

 

[bears10]

An individual resident payed $95,000 to pay for the building repairs? Did every resident get the same bill??

Owners would have to pay assessments ranging from $80,190 for one-bedroom units to $336,135 for the owner of the building's four-bedroom penthouse, a document sent to the building's residents said. The deadline to pay upfront or choose paying a monthly fee lasting 15 years was July 1.

Surfside condo owners in Florida building were facing assessments for $15 million worth of repairs - CNN

 

[moonlessnight]

The electrical wires in those pictures look to be a total mess

The damage was visible to the naked eye in the parking garage?

So people that recently purchased a unit would have seen it prior to closing?

 

[Hope32]

An individual resident payed $95,000 to pay for the building repairs? Did every resident get the same bill??

The article stated that residents would be charged based on square footage of their property. So the larger the condo the greater percent you'd be charged.

 

[Hope32]

Reading the article (Surfside condo owners in Florida building were facing assessments for $15 million worth of repairs - CNN)

She said she thought most of the line items appeared to be more for aesthetic improvements instead of structural fixes to the building -- such as $722,000 for "hallway and public area renovations."

It to me seems like people didn't fully read or understand the letter fully http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2021/images/06/29/lettertoowners040921.pdf

This seems to be addressed under the hallway project, but part of that is fixing lighting due to 40-year inspection and getting fire exits up to code. I agree that these are things that should have been addressed throughout the 40 years and not allowed to build up to such a large amount.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

I have no idea, but *thinking*.

Are the folks that just purchased and have a mortgage and are now deceased... their estates are still responsible for a 1/2 million dollars to a bank?

Unfortunately, I think that they may be as that is how such works. The property is gone/demolished etc... but the mortgage still stands . They can get $$ from suing, but the banks still have paper to collect on? (that will be a future story I'm expecting MOO)

 

[Chelly]

Reading the article (Surfside condo owners in Florida building were facing assessments for $15 million worth of repairs - CNN)


It to me seems like people didn't fully read or understand the letter fully http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2021/images/06/29/lettertoowners040921.pdf

This seems to be addressed under the hallway project, but part of that is fixing lighting due to 40-year inspection and getting fire exits up to code. I agree that these are things that should have been addressed throughout the 40 years and not allowed to build up to such a large amount.

It appears like many unit owners and new buyers had no idea about the assessments and extent of existing damage? Can this be true?

 

[moonlessnight]

take a look at the intermittent illumination of the building with bright white light on the north side during and after the collapse. You can see flashes reflecting on the outside of the building on the backside, the roof near the elevator control room (the part that did not collapse) and through the windows of the hallways of the second section that collapsed. those flashes are not coming from inside the building. they are lighting up the entire north side of the building and lasting for multiple seconds at a time. I think they were repairing some of the electrical or the transformers and something blew, or water got into the transformers or something.

One of the first reports from the WA Post was about strange orange flashes https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/26/collins-ave-miami-condo-collapse/

I don't have a subscription so I can't read the article but I can see the preview in the google search results, attached.

other articles with mentions of "flashes", "lightning", "thunder", "bomb", "explosives".

"explosives" https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252324218.html

"bright flashes popping through the smoke" Terrifying Video Shows a 12-Story Condo Suddenly Collapsing in Florida

"Bright flashes came from the middle of the Champlain Towers South" Condohttps://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article252337838.html

At first it sounded like a flash of lightning or thunder," said Barry Cohen, a former Surfside vice mayor and building resident. "But then it just kept on - steadily for at least 15 to 30 seconds - it just kept on going and going and going." Nearly 100 people missing as oceanfront Miami-area building collapses

“I was sleeping, I heard the very loud sound that really sounded like thunder,” Terenzi said. “I was waiting for the lighting but the sound was a little bit too metallic was a strange sound.” 99 still missing after South Florida condo collapse

"looks like a bomb hit" ‘It looks like a bomb hit’: Video shows moment condo building collapsed near Miami Beach | WFLA

"earthquake and bomb rolled into one"

"On Thursday morning, she woke to flashing lights, leaving her disoriented about what was going on across the street. "I didn't feel it, but the lights woke me up," Perez said in Spanish. Miami building collapse: Families of the missing gather at memorial

"thought it was a lightning storm" Miami building collapse

IMO the lights that briefly appeared during the collapse were battery powered emergency lights. These are usually required in hallways and such. Many people have them in their homes. They will come on to show the way out during power failures and will automatically come on during a fire alarm. They went on briefly and then off due to the collapse.
IMO

 

[Chelly]

Per posted links above, do I have this correct?

1) Engineering firm submitted to Condo Association estimate of @$9,000,000 for required repairs in 2018.

2) The Condo Association has been aware of required repairs since 2018.

3) Around mid-April 2021, Condo Association sent letter to unit owners that @$16,000,oo was required for repairs.

4) Per letter, each unit owner would be responsible for assessments of @$80,000 upward, with payments due in full or monthly, over 15 years beginning July 1, 2021.

5). It is possible unit owners did not know about or didn't understand stated letter.

 

[GatorFL]

I have no idea, but *thinking*.

Are the folks that just purchased and have a mortgage and are now deceased... their estates are still responsible for a 1/2 million dollars to a bank?

Unfortunately, I think that they may be as that is how such works. The property is gone/demolished etc... but the mortgage still stands . They can get $$ from suing, but the banks still have paper to collect on? (that will be a future story I'm expecting MOO)

Property insurance should be helpful.

 

[GatorFL]

Per posted links above, do I have this correct?

1) Engineering firm submitted to Condo Association estimate of @$9,000,000 for required repairs in 2018.

2) The Condo Association has been aware of required repairs since 2018.

3) Around mid-April 2021, Condo Association sent letter to unit owners that @$16,000,oo was required for repairs.

4) Per letter, each unit owner would be responsible for assessments of @$80,000 upward, with payments due in full or monthly, over 15 years beginning July 1, 2021.

5). It is possible unit owners did not know about or didn't understand stated letter.

I believe all true with the possible exception of #5. If you look at the letter, it references this has been ongoing through multiple HOA boards.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

It appears like many unit owners and new buyers had no idea about the assessments and extent of existing damage? Can this be true?

You betcha MOO

 

[sds71]

SURFSIDE, Fla.—The Surfside, Fla., building official who gave the condo that collapsed here Thursday a clean bill of health as recently as November 2018 has been placed on leave from his current job as interim building official for Doral, Fla., the city said Tuesday.

Rosendo Prieto was the Surfside building official when the 40-year recertification inspection process was under way at the Champlain Towers South building. Mr. Prieto served as building official in Surfside for about seven years before leaving that position late last year.

[URL]https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252443048.html[/URL]

Surfside Official Who Signed Off on Collapsed Condo’s Condition Is Placed on Leave From New Job

Ross Prieto: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

 

[dixiegirl1035]

take a look at the intermittent illumination of the building with bright white light on the north side during and after the collapse. You can see flashes reflecting on the outside of the building on the backside, the roof near the elevator control room (the part that did not collapse) and through the windows of the hallways of the second section that collapsed. those flashes are not coming from inside the building. they are lighting up the entire north side of the building and lasting for multiple seconds at a time. I think they were repairing some of the electrical or the transformers and something blew, or water got into the transformers or something.

One of the first reports from the WA Post was about strange orange flashes https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/06/26/collins-ave-miami-condo-collapse/

I don't have a subscription so I can't read the article but I can see the preview in the google search results, attached.

other articles with mentions of "flashes", "lightning", "thunder", "bomb", "explosives".

"explosives" https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252324218.html

"bright flashes popping through the smoke" Terrifying Video Shows a 12-Story Condo Suddenly Collapsing in Florida

"Bright flashes came from the middle of the Champlain Towers South" Condohttps://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article252337838.html

At first it sounded like a flash of lightning or thunder," said Barry Cohen, a former Surfside vice mayor and building resident. "But then it just kept on - steadily for at least 15 to 30 seconds - it just kept on going and going and going." Nearly 100 people missing as oceanfront Miami-area building collapses

“I was sleeping, I heard the very loud sound that really sounded like thunder,” Terenzi said. “I was waiting for the lighting but the sound was a little bit too metallic was a strange sound.” 99 still missing after South Florida condo collapse

"looks like a bomb hit" ‘It looks like a bomb hit’: Video shows moment condo building collapsed near Miami Beach | WFLA

"earthquake and bomb rolled into one"

"On Thursday morning, she woke to flashing lights, leaving her disoriented about what was going on across the street. "I didn't feel it, but the lights woke me up," Perez said in Spanish. Miami building collapse: Families of the missing gather at memorial

"thought it was a lightning storm" Miami building collapse

I think most all of us have seen those bright lights.

Myself, I'm focused on how the building fell.

MOO 100% is not falling from top loaded falling down to pancake (a la 9/11 did which we all have seared in our minds)

MOO 100% this was like an implosion from below that knocked it all from underneath. To me, thank goodness for the video we have as MOO most all experts are saying was from the bottom that was the issue..... no matter what was seen as to "lights" on the /behind the building that is STILL STANDING.

MOO

Thank GOODNESS that there have been (almost) 0% conspiracy theories of bombs etc. and thank GOODNESS there is the surveillance photo video. MOO

 

[IQuestion]

SURFSIDE, Fla.—The Surfside, Fla., building official who gave the condo that collapsed here Thursday a clean bill of health as recently as November 2018 has been placed on leave from his current job as interim building official for Doral, Fla., the city said Tuesday.

Rosendo Prieto was the Surfside building official when the 40-year recertification inspection process was under way at the Champlain Towers South building. Mr. Prieto served as building official in Surfside for about seven years before leaving that position late last year.

Surfside Official Who Signed Off on Collapsed Condo’s Condition Is Placed on Leave From New Job

Ross Prieto: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

WOW... I mean double wow! Placed on leave from new job vs requested stress leave from new job? (Doral right?) Hmmm and the mayor has asked for prosecutors to start a grand jury investigation? The inspector who said everything was great to the owners at the board meeting, but then didn't remember being there? Are we seeing the beginning of dots being connected? Guess WS has really gotten under my skin and I Question everything. Everything is suspect until proven other wise right now.