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NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Florida – Residents of a South Florida condo who were forced to evacuate due to concerns over the structural integrity of the building will be allowed to return to collect essential items on Friday, officials said.
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North Miami Beach officials ordered the evacuation of the 156 Crestview Towers a week ago following an audit of high-rise buildings 40 years of age or older. The audit was ordered in response to the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo complex in Surfside, which left at least 64 dead and 76 people missing in the rubble.
Residents of Crestview Towers will be escorted by a police officer and have 15 minutes to pick up necessary items, city officials said.
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City officials on Thursday reaffirmed the decision to evacuate the building, saying it was still not considered safe for occupation. The city rejected the conclusions of an engineer hired by the association of co-owners that the building is structurally sound.
The city released files showing more than $ 500,000 in fines for illegal construction, electrical problems and 18 different fire code violations. Officials said the building is to remain unoccupied until the condominium association submits a new 40-year recertification report that addresses all structural and electrical issues.
The building is about 5 miles from the condo site in Surfside, which collapsed on June 24.
The audit found that the Crestview Towers, which were built in 1972, were deemed unsafe in January, officials said.
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In documents presented to the city by condominium officials on Monday, polls by an engineering firm and an electrical engineer concluded that the building’s integrity had not been compromised by structural deficiencies. The problems were described in the 40-year certification exam the association filed in January, according to city officials.
An engineer retained by the council in January concluded that the building was structurally and electrically unsafe for the occupation.
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The city said it rejected the condominium association’s response because the documents did not comply with the 40-year certification process or did not address issues raised in January.
It is the only building to have been evacuated to date since municipal authorities in South Florida and the state began examining older skyscrapers to ensure significant structural issues are not ignored.
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