Miami Beach condo evacuated after city inspection

WPLG, MARSH MARKAJ, CNN

By Claudia Dominguez, CNN

A Miami Beach, Florida, condominium building was evacuated Thursday, with residents given just hours to leave following a structural inspection of the property, which sits less than two miles from site of last year’s deadly Surfside condo collapse.

The evacuation order this week for the Port Royale building came during its 50-year recertification, with the decision to get residents out made after a report from the building’s structural engineer showed “excessive deflection” in a concrete beam in the garage, city officials told CNN.

Evidence at the Miami Beach building of structural damage and water leaking near electrical junctions could be seen in photos in an inspection report provided to the CNN.

Structural engineers also found “several areas of concern that were designated as a priority to be repaired” in an inspection 10 months ago, the inspection report said. A second inspection on October 27 revealed a half-inch deflection and that a crack marked for repair had “extended.”

Inspectors say repairs could take 10 days before the building is ready for another inspection to see if residents can return.

“The City of Miami Beach posted an Unsafe Structure notice yesterday on 6969 Collins Avenue requiring residents to vacate immediately based upon a report from the building’s structural engineer,” city spokesperson Melissa Berthier told CNN in an email.

“The tenant relocation ordinance applies to those who rent in the building as required by municipal code.”

The order at 6969 Collins Avenue comes more than a year after 98 people were killed in nearby Surfside when a large portion of the Champlain Towers South building collapsed in June 2021 in the middle of the night.

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