SURFSIDE, Fla. — Seven months after an oceanfront condominium collapsed and killed 98 people near Miami, temporary structural supports have been added to areas in the underground garage of its sister tower.
The shoring was installed last month “in an abundance of caution” as part of an ongoing inspection by a structural engineer, the Champlain Towers North condo board said in a Jan. 19 notice to unit owners, the Miami Herald reported.
The condo was built in 1981 and has a nearly identical design as the Champlain Towers South, which partially collapsed early on the morning of June 24. The official cause of the collapse remains undetermined.
Weeks afterward, the Champlain Towers North board declared its building safe and said it was given a “clean bill of health” by several inspectors, including Allyn Kilsheimer, who was hired by the town of Surfside.
During a news conference in July, Kilsheimer said some Champlain North residents asked him if they should stay put or move. He told news outlets that he told the residents, “I would let my kids and grandkids stay in this building.”
The residents were given the option to voluntarily evacuate with resources provided by the Miami Foundation, but most decided to stay, the Herald reported.
“If Surfside had any doubts about the safety of this building, they would have evacuated us six months ago,” Naum Lusky, president of the Champlain North condo association, told the newspaper.
Dawn Lehman, a professor of engineering at the University of Washington who perfomed an analysis of the south tower for the Herald, said the “post shores” being added to the garage call into question those proclamations of health and safety.
“It was premature to declare it to have a ‘clean bill of health’ then,” Lehman said. “And it’s probably too soon to say that now, too.”
She said that while the presence of shoring doesn’t mean the building is in danger of immediately falling down, it indicates “some other structural engineer has decided this building does not have a clean bill of health.”
Kilsheimer told the Herald he had done only a visual, walk-through inspection, and took limited concrete samples. He didn’t provide the results of tests on those samples and denied giving the building a clean bill of health.
“We didn’t do a full evaluation of anything in that building, I was giving people my opinion based on my experience of what I saw,” he said.
Records show Champlain North hired engineer Youssef Hachem to inspect the building in accordance with Miami-Dade County’s recertification for 40-year-old structures.
In a letter dated Sept. 27, 2021, and addressed to the Champlain North condo board president, Hachem said his team had completed a visual inspection of the building, but a more complete structural inspection was ongoing.
“At this time, we are not complete in our investigations, but we are confident the building is safe to be inhabited,” Hachem wrote. The full investigation would include scans to locate reinforcing steel within the concrete, and core samples to determine the strength of the concrete, according to the town’s recommendations cited in the letter.
Surfside spokesperson Malarie Dauginikas told the newspaper the building’s 40-year recertification was due Dec. 28, but the town granted a 90-day extension.
Lusky said the shoring in the garage is “just a way to further ensure the safety of the building.” He said he is confident the building is safe and expects to receive a full engineering report within two weeks that will detail any necessary repairs.
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