Champlain Towers North residents are now worried about their 12-story, almost 40-year-old building. However, many of them have remained and said they feel the building is more well-maintained. According to them, their building does not have cracking in supportbeams or in the pool area as the south tower’s 2018 engineering reports.
The collapse at Champlain Towers South on Thursday in Surfside has brought attention to older high-rise buildings across South Florida. This prompted Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade Mayor, to request a 30-day audit to determine if such buildings are meeting the 40-year-old requirement for recertification. She stated that she would like to see any problems raised by inspections addressed immediately. She also encouraged other municipalities to follow her lead. Miami has, for instance, launched a 45-day audit on buildings six stories or higher that are older than 40 years.
Inspectors made a quick inspection of the north tower and Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett stated that nothing had been found to indicate the tower was at risk of falling.
This didn’t calm everyone.
Rebecca Weinstock, a snowbird, said that she is terrified of returning to the north building. She bought a sixth-floor condo there four years ago. She was in New York when the south tower fell on Thursday, killing at most 11 people and leaving 150 others missing.
She said she is satisfied that the north building has been well maintained but that doesn’t mean it’s safe. It was built in 1982 by Nathan Reiber through his company, Nattel Construction. She won’t return to the site soon because it is possible that the collapse was due to a design flaw or construction defect.
She said, “I am out of my investment, my apartment, my future, but it is about lives here.” She said that the only way she will return is if two independent engineers, not from South Florida, agree that it’s safe.
Residents of the North tower who wish to relocate temporarily are offered assistance by Support Surfside, a charity helping victims of the collapse. Surveying the full-time residents of the building, it found that half were staying and half had left. According to the survey, approximately half of the units were owned by snowbirds such as Weinstock, and the remaining residents have left since the collapse. The group discovered that 28 out of the 113 units were currently occupied.
Residents who are staying chose to take the place of Nora and Philip Zyne who still live in their condo on the fifth floor. They bought their condo 12 year ago and have been living there for six years. They are missing several of their friends and acquaintances from the south tower.
Zyne stated Monday that he has seen many inspectors since the collapse of his building.
Philip Zyne, an advocate, stated that he has never seen major structural problems in the north building. “I don’t worry at all right now. “I do wish to have a complete structural engineering and forensic exam done.”
Salomon Gold spent 10 years as president of the condo association for the north tower, and 20 years on the board. He is confident that the building is safe and says he and other board members have never cut corners on maintenance. He likened the building’s collapse to an airplane crash.
Gold, 89, said that “We are in good condition.” Naum Lusky (current president of the condo association) declined to comment Monday.
Burkett, Surfside Mayor, stated that an engineering company hired by residents will conduct a deep-dive inspection on Tuesday of the north tower. Soon, the town will also inspect older buildings. He said that he doesn’t see any reason to order evacuations based on the preliminary inspection of the north tower. He said that he wasn’t sure he would remain there.
“If you asked my if I would like to spend the night in this building, I would be a little… He said that he wouldn’t agree to do it until he had seen the process.
Esther Drachman isn’t taking chances with her husband. Drachman’s mother-in law, a 91-year old woman, lives in the north tower.
Drachman stated that “my mother-in law is bedridden so we took her out of her house and brought her to us.” We felt that we could not get her out of bed in five minutes, if she needed to be evacuated quickly.
Drachman stated that Drachman’s mother-in law wasn’t concerned or aware of all the details. She stated that she and her husband will wait to see if an inspection reveals any problems.
Drachman stated, “We’ll check if that building is fine.” “And if it’s fine, we’ll put it back in.”
