After the collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, city officials across South Florida are scrambling to get older buildings into compliance with safety standards. Building officials in Miami Beach placed this notice on one non-compliant building.
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In the coastal condo city of Hallandale Beach alone, more
than half of all condos older than 40 are delinquent on
their certifications.
In many cases, warnings from residents of cracked concrete,
rusted rebar, and continuously flooding underground parking
garages have had little effect, as officials either ignore
residents or find themselves hamstrung by the laissez-faire
spirit of county regulations.
No follow-up
When Champlain collapsed on its residents, a torrent of
concern swept up the coast.
Like other coastal cities with seaside towers, Hallandale
Beach went into overdrive to track down how many buildings
were behind on their 40-year recertification.
The numbers, laid out in a June 29 email to city
commissioners from City Manager Jeremy Earle, were stunning.
Of 591 buildings that needed recertification, about 390 had
not done it, Earle said. The list included all types of
buildings, he noted, not just condos, and the city was still
working through the list to double-check. Scores of
properties have ignored the city’s notifications since 2013,
he said.
According to Earle’s memo, the city never heard back from at
least 141 properties after they were notified. Another 54
responded, but their certification reports were rejected.
Another 189 received notice from the city and have 90 days
to respond.
Hallandale Beach resident Rob Raymond was horrified to hear
from a reporter that more than half the aging buildings in
his city were non-compliant.
“Oh my God,” he said. “That’s big.”
When the city of Fort Lauderdale delved into the files in
recent days, evidence of age spilled out from the pages:
spalling concrete, exposed rebar or wiring, cracks on garage
beams and columns. Eight condos’ safety check-ups were not
accounted for since 2016, officials told the Sun Sentinel.
Turns out some of the repairs were already done and some
were still in progress.
“None were in danger of imminent collapse,” said Anthony
Fajardo, Fort Lauderdale’s building director.
Fajardo’s observation applies broadly across the region.
Though many of the emerging reports of condo damage do not
appear to be catastrophic issues, the cause of the
Champlain’s collapse is still unknown. Experts have said a
combination of damage and neglect can be dangerous.
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Fort Lauderdale City Manager Chris Lagerbloom said the city
has a routine “triggering process” to follow up with condo
associations that need certifications, but ordered the audit
in an abundance of caution. “We are doing everything we can
to make sure we don’t have a Surfside,” he said.
The Essex, a 17-story condo tower on tony Las Olas
Boulevard, is one of the eight problematic buildings
officials found during that audit. The city’s list of
problems with this condo is lengthy: spalling in the
generator room, pool room, on balcony ceilings; slight to
medium cracks on garage beam and columns; rebar corrosion in
pool room and elevator room; low voltage wiring exposed; an
improperly grounded generator and pool equipment panel; pool
lights lack shock protection; rooftop raceways corroded.
Built in 1978, the Essex is still undergoing restoration
work and in no danger of collapsing, city officials say.
The city’s list did not reflect the latest repairs made at
Essex; some problems had already been addressed. For a time,
residents couldn’t use the pool until shock protection
equipment was installed, city records show. A portion of the
parking garage is still off-limits to residents, under order
of the city.
Essex and its condo board accuse a local engineering firm
and general contractor of flubbing the building’s required
certification, and a lawsuit has been filed.
Like other cities, Fort Lauderdale had not heard back from
some condos, but took no action on them - until Surfside.
Pompano Beach reached for its files and found at least 61
condos that had not been certified safe at the 40-year mark.
That would account for more than 25 percent of the city’s
226 condos that are larger than 3,500 square feet and older
than 40, according to a Sun Sentinel analysis.
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Thirty-eight of the buildings are labeled as “repairs
required” in city documents, and some have been working to
repair their buildings for as long as 10 years. City
officials conceded they have not taken any cases to a
special magistrate or unsafe structures board to enforce the
requirement.
The situation is similarly delinquent in Dania Beach, where
60 older buildings are overdue for their 40 year safety
certification.
When Hollywood received a complaint about the beachfront
Quadomain towers after the Champlain’s collapse, a check of
the building records indicated all four towers were out of
compliance with the 40-year checkup, city officials said.
The finding exemplifies the disorganized system. Leaders for
three of the towers supplied evidence to the Sun Sentinel
showing they had indeed been certified. Hollywood officials
late Thursday clarified that two of the towers had not paid
a $300 fee, but did so Tuesday. The third had submitted its
checklist three years early and was told in writing that it
was set for 10 years, but the city now has reversed that
position.
“I don’t really think that’s on the association, at that
point,” said attorney Darrin Gursky, who represents one of
the handful of associations at Quadomain.
“Clearly the city isn’t really operating [properly] if it
took them a horrific event and six years to figure it out,”
he said.
Aventura City Manager Ronald Wasson said a post-Surfside
review revealed that his city has about 70 buildings over
age 40, and 25 of them are late with their safety
certifications. The city just sent 30-day notices out to
them, he said.
“The tragedy got us to look,” he said, adding he’s in the
process of hiring three additional building code inspectors.
While Palm Beach County does not have a 40-year
certification requirement for buildings, the city of Boca
Raton went out and closed a condo’s swimming pool on July 2,
a few days after the Champlain collapse.
The safety enforcement action was no reflection on the tower
itself and only shut off swimming for a day at the Pointe
South Condominium, a five story, 66 unit structure built in
1975 and located at 1401 South Federal Highway, according to
Anne Marie Connolly, communications manager for the city.
Former resident Midge Zanger expressed alarm. Her concerns
are like those hanging in the minds of many in South
Florida.
“Everything that happened down there [in Surfside] is
happening here. The pool deck, the rebar, the spalling; I
used to walk out my front door and see huge cracks on the
catwalk,” Zanger said.
Zanger, a former board member for the Pointe South condo
association, says large chunks of concrete have fallen in
the building’s pool pump room.
But Eric Muñoz, the engineer hired to conduct concrete
restoration on Pointe South, says the issues with the
building are serious but have not compromised its structural
integrity.
“It’s like a car, every building is going to have some
concerns. It’s concrete; it will crack. But there is a
difference if it’s structurally compromising or not.”
Some officials in Palm Beach County are pushing for adoption
of a law similar to its neighbors to the south.
Buying time
In many building departments, getting an extension for the
40-year certifications is as easy as writing a check for a
few hundred dollars and sending an email.
William Pyznar, a principal engineer with the Falcon Group,
an engineering and architectural firm, said there are no
caveats to getting an extension, even if damage is serious.
But he said a professional has an obligation to alert the
city if the client refuses to make immediate repairs.
He said he now expects extensions to be granted “less and
less” because of the collapse.
Officials said as long as a building has an open work permit
for work related to its 40-year certification, it doesn’t
face the usual deadline associated with the process.
“Once the repairs are completed we send our folks out to a
follow up analysis, and then they get certified,” said Chris
Feltgen, an administrator for Pompano Beach.
But as long as that work permit remains active, the
recertification process continues - and buildings don’t have
to check in with the city, Feltgen explained.
Consider the Decoplage on Miami Beach.
The building is 56 years old, and still hasn’t completed its
40-year certification. A multi-million dollar restoration
has been under way for years. On Friday, June 25th - the day
after the Surfside collapse - the city of Miami Beach
red-tagged the condo, starting a seven-day timer to shore up
cracked structural columns, city records show.
Lawyers for the Decoplage say the city tagged the wrong
condo, and the Decoplage is structurally sound. The
association is shoring up it’s columns regardless and hopes
to complete all construction soon.
Kevin W. Brown, an attorney for the Decoplage, told the Sun
Sentinel that the shoring requirement was new, and the
city’s enforcement only reflected the fear that’s in the
air.
“Cities are now panicking because they are asking themselves
what could have been done,” said Russell Jacobs, another
attorney for the condominium.
Brown said the work would take up to two weeks. He said the
city would not be ordering residents to vacate the building,
and if it tried to, he would fight the order in court.
Condo politics
Sometimes costly repairs are mired in condo politics. When
condo boards propose hefty special assessments for repairs,
entire condo boards are voted out and new boards postpone
the work or look for a cheaper way.
“One board will come in and kind of blame the previous board
for spending too much money or not being informative or
taking advantage and a new board may come in and wish to
change things around,” said engineer John Pistorino, the
author of the 40-year recertification program.
It also takes time to bid out the work and raise the money
to get it done, said David Haber, who specializes in
construction and condominium law. He noted that the
Champlain had been working on repairs that residents had
long known were needed.