![]() “I’ve seen up and down the coast hundreds of buildings where you have concrete problems,” Batista said. The potential for spalling – a dangerous flaw caused by the rusting of reinforced steel inside concrete – is greater when a structure, like the condo in Surfside, abuts the sea. “The building was in the condition you would expect for a building that is 40 years old, that is located on the Atlantic Ocean,” Direktor said.īut that proximity to the sea – and the saltwater coming up off the ocean – has been a recurring issue for experts trying to make sense of the disaster.īoth Miyamoto and Greg Batista, a specialist in concrete repair projects, made note of the building’s beachfront location. If the pillars fail, everything fails,” said Kit Miyamoto, a structural engineer and California Seismic Safety Commission chairman.ĭetermining what set off that failure is a test that awaits federal, state and local engineers. Which means the building itself was supported by a series of pillars. “This collapse is a classic column failure. “There was roof work being done, but there’s roof work being done on buildings all the time.”Įxperts who observed footage of the disaster say the footage provided some baseline understanding of what happened, but little more. “There’s no reason for this building to go down like that unless someone literally pulls out the supports from underneath, or they get washed out, or there’s a sinkhole or something like that because it just went down,” Burkett said. (It is unclear if the engineer’s inspection process located any other concerns or recommended any other work). Burkett dismissed the suggestion that the rooftop repairs should have been a red flag. The only repairs that recently took place, he added, were work on the roof.Īt a news conference on Thursday, Surfside, Florida, Mayor Charles W. “At least it wasn’t seen by the engineers who were looking at the building from a structural perspective.” ![]() “Nothing like this was foreseeable,” Direktor said. The building, he told CNN, had been subject to a series of inspections “over the last several months” as part of its milestone 40-year safety certification process. But a new report surfaced overnight and an older study of the building and surrounding areas have begun to suggest warning signs were there to see.Īn attorney for the building’s condominium association, Kenneth Direktor, warned against early speculation. Local officials familiar with the Champlain Towers South condo complex, which is only four decades old, have repeatedly shot down rumors that it was in any unusual state of disrepair. Officials are promising an urgent inquiry as engineers have said it is impossible, at this stage, to pinpoint a precise reason. Now, as the search for survivors continues, a critical question looms: What caused the building to fall? They were accused in the litigation of destabilizing Champlain South during construction in 2016 when metal sheet piles were driven into the ground about 12 feet from the Surfside condo’s perimeter wall around the pool deck.The collapse of a high-rise condo tower in South Florida early Thursday morning has left at least four people dead and 159 more currently unaccounted for. The last major defendants to settle were the developer, Terra Group, and general contractor, John Moriarty and Associates, of the adjacent ultra-luxury, Renzo Piano-designed Eighty Seven Park condo, located just south of the Surfside municipal boundary bordering Miami Beach. ![]() They include 8701 Collins Development, Terra Group, Terra World Investments, John Moriarty and Associations of Florida, NV5, DeSimone Consulting Engineers, Morabito Consultants, the town of Surfside, Becker and Poliakoff and Champlain Towers South Condominium Association. Plaintiffs settled with 10 defendants, including developers of the condominium next door, engineers, a law firm, the Champlain South condo association and their insurers. If we didn’t have the right people handling this case it would be a 10-year slog with tens of millions in attorneys’ fees.” ![]() This was a tragedy of unspeakable proportions. ![]() “When this case first came in this court I told everyone this wouldn’t be business as usual. “The result achieved and the speed is beyond extraordinary,” Hanzman said. Hanzman hoped to have the case resolved before the one-year anniversary of the collapse of the 136-unit oceanfront building in Surfside that fell at 1:22 a.m. Related: SPECIAL REPORT: Seven minutes to collapse ![]()
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