Shannon Gallagher was visiting family in Chicago, away from her home at the Carlisle on the Ocean apartment building in Surfside, on the morning of June 24, 2021, when the Champlain Towers South condominium collapsed just four blocks south of her residence. When her husband notified her of the collapse that was later found to have killed 98 of her neighbors, Gallagher was in shock. The news rattled the sleepy town as it searched for answers in the months that followed. But in December, when a grand jury report highlighted some of the environmental factors that might have led to the collapse and how warning signs were overlooked, Gallagher's shock turned to fear.
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Surfside resident Shannon Gallagher looks at the site of a new proposed high-rise condo from her balcony at the Carlise in Surfside. |
Until more information
comes to light about what caused the 40-year-old Champlain
Towers to collapse, Gallagher and others say, it's dangerous
to approve large condo construction in close proximity to
existing structures.
"Surfside’s tragic collapse highlights the need to end the
practice of local governments granting favors to developers
at the risk and cost of neighbors and the community," reads
Gallagher's complaint. "Surfside was to review the Hillcrest
Project on the merits, and require it to conform with the
Town Charter and Zoning Ordinances. It failed to do so."
Hillcrest by the Sea is being developed by Fort Partners, a
Miami-based firm that owns all Four Seasons hotels in South
Florida, including the Four Seasons Hotel at the Surf Club
in Surfside. On April 12, Surfside Town commissioners
unanimously approved the Fort Partners' development plan
despite Gallagher and other residents voicing safety
concerns and alleged code and charter violations. As first
reported by The Real Deal, Gallagher alleges that the
Hillcrest by the Sea site plans put the building's setback,
or minimum distance from another structure, on its east side
at 25 feet instead of the required 30 feet. She also argues
that a proposed rooftop structure will exceed town height
restrictions.
Lillian Arango, an attorney representing Surfside, told The
Real Deal that the project conforms to all applicable laws
and codes. She did not respond to a request for comment from
New Times via email.
One of residents' biggest concerns is the proposed
construction of a subterranean garage beneath the Hillcrest
by the Sea tower that will extend to within three feet of
the property line of the Carlisle. Gallagher points out that
the Eighty Seven Park luxury condo tower also included a
subterranean garage.
Eighty Seven Park's developers, Terra Group, denied any
wrongdoing or that their building contributed to the
Champlain Towers South collapse in any way. The group was
named in a class-action lawsuit brought by survivors and
victims' family members and settled with the plaintiffs
through their insurers for $400 million before trial.
Tricia Foley, a Surfside resident who lives two blocks from
the Carlisle, spoke out against the development at a zoning
meeting in February.
"It's foolish and irresponsible to build that subterranean
garage that close to another old building without knowledge
of what brought down the Champlain Towers," Foley tells New
Times.
Then-Surfside Town Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer opposed the
Hillcrest project when it came up on the commission agenda
in February and tells New Times she had immediate concerns
about the underground garage. But she lost her re-election
bid in March, a month before the newly seated commission
approved the project. She'd hoped city officials would be
more cautious about approving new oceanfront construction in
light of the Surfside tragedy.
"I would think that 100 percent of the commission would have
the common sense to not approve a parking garage that would
go all the way up to the property line of another building,"
Salzhauer says. "But this commission is jacked up on
developer money. They don't care about resident safety."
Robert Lisman, who lives at Champlain Towers East, a
condominium just north of the collapse site, is working with
the homeowner-rights group Cyber Citizens for Justice. In
the year since the fatal collapse, he has been outspoken
about new development in the beachside town.
"We have so many old, fragile buildings, that we don't know
the true state of many of them, whether or not they have
saltwater intrusion or structural damage. There are so many
unknowns," Lisman says. "There should be a moratorium or
pause on all this new construction until we know all the
details of what happened."
For Gallagher and her neighbors, living in Surfside
post-collapse has meant living in fear of new construction.
"Since I read the grand jury report I've been worried to
stay in my home," she says. "The uncertainty of the safety
of my building and ongoing construction nuisance has put too
much stress on me."
Gallagher filed her suit in May and filed an amended
petition on June 10. Circuit Court Judge Maria de Jesus
Santovenia has ordered the town to respond to Gallagher's
lawsuit by July 4.
Fort Partners has not responded to a request for comment
from New Times.