MIAMI – Residents of a
high rise in Brickell are concerned about their safety over
a construction site next door where a new luxury condo is
being built.
Mandy Karnauskas lives in Brickell Townhouse, next door to
the Una Residences under construction.
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Flooding at a construction site in Brickell has neighbors in a nearby condominium concerned about their safety. |
Residents of a high
rise in Brickell are concerned about their safety over a
construction site next door where a new luxury condo is
being built.
Mandy Karnauskas lives in Brickell Townhouse, next door to
the Una Residences under construction.
“We see the ground actually moving, a piece of our property
is sinking and our little tiki picnic huts are starting to
keel over,” Karnauskas told Local 10 News.
Last month, water began upwelling into what has been
described as Miami’s most expensive and deepest underground
parking garage during its excavation phase.
“I mean, they poked a whole in the aquifer right there,”
Karnauskas said.
At the time, the project’s general contractor told Local 10
News that the water was contained to the construction site
and “there is no evidence of impacts on surrounding
properties,” but now Karnauskas is not so sure.
She said she received an email on Thursday night from the
management company of her building that said the property is
“starting to have some impacts.”
Ant Yapi Civic Construction is the general contractor and
they sent a statement to Local 10 News, which stated: “The
flooding that took place on the UNA Residences construction
site due to intrusion from the water table has been
remediated. There is no evidence that the flooding adversely
impacted surrounding properties. Construction of UNA
Residences continues as planned.”
City of Miami commissioner Ken Russell confirmed Friday that
another breach happened late Friday afternoon. Russell
released an Instagram post Friday night in which he
acknowledged the breach. He says that the new breach should
be “capped” this evening, adding that: “We have demanded a
report be submitted on, not only their construction site,”
he said referring to the Una residences construction, “but
the surrounding properties as well. And we need that done
this weekend.”
On Monday, Russell confirmed that the city planned to issue
a stop work order once the second breach was capped. It is
expected that the breach will be capped by Wednesday. The
stop work order, he said, is a precautionary measure in
order for an independent analysis of the project to be
performed.
Three experts are being brought in, according to Russell, to
conduct an engineering evaluation: a geotechnical (soil)
engineer, a structural engineer, and a seismic testing
engineer. All three will report their findings directly to
the city.
Russell added that the building department will cover the
engineer costs since all of the engineers will report their
findings directly to the city.
Also, Karnauskas said she and other residents recently
received an email from the City of Miami saying that they
now plan to host a community meeting about the project and
address the concerns of area residents.
Miami-Dade County officials said that due to the new breach
they will have county inspectors out over the weekend
because of the intersection of the water and their
regulatory oversight when it comes to the environment.
After Local 10′s story aired on Friday, residents of
Brickell Townhomes received this email from their
condominium’s management company:
“After the email communication we sent yesterday regarding
the closure of the tiki’s, word spread quickly and today we
received a visit from the City of Miami Building Department
and they agreed with the Board’s decision to shut down the
tiki area and have deemed the area as unsafe.
Shortly after, our attorney received a call from Una’s
contractor requesting a site visit so they could assess the
situation. Our Structural Engineer was present for the site
visit and he walked the grounds with Una’s Geotechnical
Engineer and the Contractor and requested extensive testing
so that the soil can be examined. This is the only way we
can know with certainty if the shifting of the brick pavers
and the tiki’s is related to what has occurred on Una’s
construction site.
Lastly, we have once again been reassured that the structure
of our building is safe . Our building was built with steel
and encased in concrete. There is no concern regarding the
structure, the concerns are based on what is happening in
the tiki area.