Miami-Dade building audit already spotting issues

Closer look follows Surfside condo collapse

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Two days after the Champlain Towers South condo came down, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava ordered an emergency audit of buildings under the county’s jurisdiction.

We’re now now getting a glimpse of what’s under the inspectors’ microscopes.

Levine Cava said the county is “taking swift action” to address any outstanding issues with buildings now facing 40-year-recertification enforcement.

The county says close to 470 apartment or condo buildings are currently tagged as “unsafe” — most of them one to three floors high.

“And just last night, our building officer notified one of those properties — a building in Northeast Dade — that four balconies must be immediately closed to residents due to safety conditions,” Levine Cava said Tuesday.

Inspectors noted concerns with a first-floor steel column that supports three more outdoor patios at the Royal Oaks condos off Northeast 195th Street.

The county says the condo has not yet provided recertification reports.

The building is among 24 across the county where violations or issues were found during their 40-year-recertifications.

All 24 are at least four stories high. The tallest on the list is 18 stories.

The mayor’s emergency audit is zeroing in on those buildings, specifically, after Thursday’s catastrophic condo collapse in Surfside.

The county says the issues flagged were not all necessarily structural issues, but, outstanding issues that nonetheless need to be corrected.

“I know within a matter of days, or short weeks, we will have addressed all of those safety concerns,” Levine Cava said.

This audit only applies to buildings in unincorporated areas of the county, most of which don’t reach nearly as high as buildings in cities along the coastline.

That’s where individual cities are now working to conduct their own audits.


About the Author:

Layron Livingston made the move from Ohio's Miami Valley to Miami, Florida, to join the Local 10 News team.