Alarming cracks shored-up
The Port Royale Condominium in Miami Beach. Courtesy Google Earth
Residents of a 14-story oceanfront condominium building in Miami Beach were allowed to return to their condos last week after a two-week mandatory evacuation prompted by the discovery of substantial damage to beams believed to be supporting the entire building. The 164-unit Port Royale Condominium is just a mile south of the Champlain Towers South condominium that collapsed in June 2021, killing 98 people.
Port Royale was going through repairs as part of its 50-year building recertification when engineers on October 27 found damage to beams in the mezzanine-level garage they thought might be supporting the entire structure. The city declared the building unsafe and gave residents two hours to evacuate. The condo board hired another firm to shore-up the structure, which it did on November 11, noting that the beams in question supported the fourth floor only. The Miami Herald reports the evacuation followed an earlier scare at the building a month after the Champlain Towers collapse, also requiring shoring measures in the garage.
The paper reports the condo’s engineering repair firm said it found approximately half an inch of “deflection,” or movement, from the original position of a beam that had already been identified as needing repairs. In addition, an existing crack in the beam had expanded. The building had also experienced a series of burst water pipes, which engineers are expected to look into further to determine if they may be related or an indication of more serious problems.
The Florida Legislature in its May 2022 special session enacted, as part of SB 4-D, new requirements on high-rise condominium building re-inspections and condo/HOA association practices, including reserve accounts and studies to fund milestone inspections and repair.
LMA Newsletter of 11-21-22
