City of Miami Police Department’s parking garage shut down over building safety concerns

MIAMI – The parking garage at the headquarters of the City of Miami Police Department was suddenly shut down over safety concerns.

A police recruit was jogging the garage ramps and floors last month when a chunk of concrete gave way.

“You can see right through one of the levels of the parking garage,” said Miami Police Chief Manny Morales.

The inspectors came, including an engineer, on the garage’s 40-year recertification, and in a letter described deteriorating concrete and lack of reinforcements.

“Concerns of sections of the slabs between the beams that had deteriorating because of spalling,” said Miami Buildings Director Ace Marrero. “But the actual main building is in good state.”

Last month’s letter regarding the garage being closed references the 2016 recertification, that cited “concrete damage that required attention..that had not been cleared or repaired to date.”

That 2016 report is filled with photos of concrete cracks and exposed rebar.

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The engineer wrote that there was no life safety risk, but that deteriorating concrete and cracking “needs addressing expeditiously.”

If the catastrophic building collapse in Surfside comes to mind, Marraro said this situation is not like that one.

“The structure system was a concern in Surfside, this is way different,” he said.

Meanwhile, there will be no on-site parking for the foreseeable few months for hundreds of police employees.

“The only concern is for the employees that actually work in the building,” said Morales. “The vast majority of officers assigned to that station patrol the streets of Miami and that’s where I expect them to be.”