Article Courtesy of Florida Keys News
By Kevin Wadlow
Published December 17, 2018
ISLAMORADA — Fifteen months after Hurricane Irma brought the Matecumbe Sandy
Cove condominium tumbling down, work to remove its flattened remains was
expected to begin this week.
“It was a complicated permit process, but now they have
been given the permits to start,” Islamorada Village Manager Seth Lawless
said Friday. “That’s absolutely good news for the neighbors.”
The condominium, built in 1973 across from Sea Oats Beach at mile marker
74.8 on Lower Matecumbe Key, held a dozen units in two stories above covered
parking.
During Hurricane Irma, ocean water flowed beneath the building toward Sandy
Cove. The three-story structure collapsed, destroying at least two vehicles
parked underneath.
“After the storm, the first two floors were underground,” said Don Horton, a
consultant to the condominium association.
Due to materials used in construction more than four decades ago,
environmental agencies insisted on testing and careful removal of debris.
“There probably were six or seven agencies involved,” Horton said. “They all
had their own agendas and concerns.”
Getting documents from the affected unit owners also slowed the start of
removing what’s left of the building. |
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Work to remove the flattened remains of the
Matecumbe Sandy Cove condominium complex in Islamorada is
expected to begin this week.
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The collapsed condo, one of the Upper Keys’ most visible
scars from Hurricane Irma, was among issues raised by the Lower Matecumbe
Key Association during a November meeting with Lawless.
No information was available on the future of the property that overlooks
the Atlantic Ocean.
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