In the years before a section of their high-rise suddenly pancaked to the ground, residents of Champlain Towers South were working to address defects identified in a periodic structural safety review, an unusual local requirement for all tall buildings that reach 40 years old.

“It’s very strict,” said Kit Miyamoto, CEO of Miyamoto International, a global structural engineering firm “This is the first thing I’ve seen like that.”  

The Newsy investigative team reviewed building codes in seven major U.S. cities and found the more common approach is to require checking structural integrity only when a tower is new.  

After that, city codes diverge.

New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco call for routine checkups only of tower exteriors, where pieces might fall off and hurt someone on the ground. 

Definitions of a high-rise vary, as do how often re-inspections should occur: every five years in Boston, up to every 12 years in Chicago. 

Seattle re-certifies towers only after damage from an event such as an earthquake.  

Houston requires inspections of apartment buildings every four years, but not condominiums unless someone makes a complaint.  

The cities are following guidance from the International Code Council. 

The group’s model building codes don’t say anything about whether high-rises should be re-inspected, only that they should be maintained and stay structurally sound.   

That may change soon. 

“We have to be more diligent in the future,” said Dominic Sims, the council’s CEO.

The group is planning to meet in August to discuss the collapse and to consider periodic building inspections.

The council also will review any findings from investigators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who are on the ground in Surfside, Fla. 

“We’re going to want to hear from the experts,” Sims said, adding there is a “very strong likelihood” the council will adopt new guidelines for routine re-inspections of high-rises, at least for areas in the bullseye of climate change with sea-level rise and stronger storms. 

“The forces that are acting on buildings are changing,” he said.

There is concern that new recommendations to regularly examine high-rises in all cities would be an overreaction. 

“It’s not really the right way to spend resources,” Miyamoto said.

If towers are built to code and weather-tight, they should "last forever," he said.

Without mandated re-inspections, in a condo building, it’s often up to residents to detect trouble themselves and agree to pay for costly fixes. 

While investigators are still determining what brought down part of Champlain Towers, condo owners had been grappling with repairs that an engineer warned would be “extremely expensive.”  

Sims said people will expect tougher building codes following the tragedy in Surfside.

 

“Just the mere fact that it did fall, and in the U.S., that’s not something that I think the public will accept,” he said.

This story was originally published by Patrick Terpstra on Newsy.com.

SURFSIDE, Fla. — Tuesday in Surfside brought no luck, no miracles and still no answers in the tragic collapse of the Champlain South Towers condominium.

Tuesday's rescue efforts found no survivors and one additional fatality, bringing the death toll to 12. Officials say 149 people are still missing.

But Tuesday also brought mounting questions in the small beachside town-turned-global epicenter of a tragic and historic rescue-and-recovery mission. How did the 40-year-old condo tower crumble? Why were the increasing signs of destruction and disrepair repeatedly ignored?

Rosalia Cordaro is a resident and owner at Champlain Tower South. She and her husband were in New York for business Thursday when their beach condominium spontaneously collapsed.

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"Someone called us at 6 o'clock in the morning, and I thought it was a joke," Cordaro said before breaking down. "I'm so sorry. I'm just so angry."

For at least a year, Cordaro said she had complained about issues with the building. Her front door didn't close properly. She noticed cracks.

"Under our balcony was a big, big crack that we complained about, but they just said they have to renovate everything so it will be OK, don't worry," she said over Zoom from her home in New York.

But she says she was never told of serious problems that were described as "major structural damage" by an engineering firm hired to inspect the building as part of the tower's county-mandated 40-year certification.

The damage, which included drainage issues in the tower's garage and under the pool deck were documented in a structural field survey in 2018.

AP

"Absolutely not," Cordaro said when asked if she was ever told the building was unsafe.

She said she and her husband had just sent a $95,000 check to the building — their portion of the estimated $16 million renovations.

"Do you think we would give them money if the building was not good?" she said.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett admitted there were "serious issues" with the building.

Burkett was not the mayor in 2018 when the engineering report was released or when a former town building official described the condo as being in "very good shape" about a month after engineers flagged those "major" structural issues.

Lynne Sladky/AP

"We're all disturbed, to say the least, very disturbed," Burkett said.

He added that the town is in the process of digging through its archives and computer system to gather every document related to Champlain Tower South and its sister towers East and North.

Burkett also revealed Tuesday that the south tower was initially planned for 12 stories. He suggested a 13th-floor penthouse may have been a last-minute addition and said that town officials have yet to locate any plans for the 13th floor, he said.

"You design a building for 12 stories, and you add a 13th at the last minute; it's not a great idea," Burkett said.

When asked if he thought Surfside dropped the ball in protecting residents, Burkett said he hoped to answer that soon.

"We'll find out," he said. "We certainly will find out if the town dropped the ball."

This story was originally published by Katie LaGrone on Scripps station WPTV in Palm Beach, Florida.

About a block from the Miami-area beachfront condominium tower that collapsed sits its sister building, Champlain Towers North.

It was erected in 1982 — a year after the now-partially collapsed Champlain Towers South — built by the same company, using the same materials and a similar design.

It has faced the same tides and salty air.

Last Thursday's collapse has made some residents of Champlain Towers North worried enough to leave, though most have remained. They say they are confident their almost 40-year-old, 12-story building is better maintained.

They say their building doesn't have the same problems with cracking in support beams and in the pool area that 2018 engineering reports show the south tower had.

"I've never seen any major structural issues" in the north building, said Philip Zyne, an attorney. "I'm not worried at all right now. I do want to get a full structural engineering and forensic examination done."

However, some residents aren't taking any chances, like Rebecca Weinstock, who bought a sixth-floor apartment four years ago. She's currently in New York, where she plans to stay.

"I am out my investment, I am out my apartment, I am out my future, but we are talking about lives here," she told the Associated Press.

She added she'll only return to the building if two independent engineers from outside the region determine it's safe to return.

Nearly three years before an oceanfront building collapsed near Miami, an engineering firm estimated the building needed more than $9 million in major repairs. That is according to emails from the firm of Morabito Consultants that were released by the city of Surfside.

The release of the 2018 cost estimate followed the earlier publication of another document from the firm showing the ground-floor pool deck of the building was resting on a concrete slab that had “major structural damage” and needed to be extensively repaired.

That report also uncovered “abundant cracking and spalling” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage. At least nine people were killed in the collapse and more than 150 people remained unaccounted for.

Authorities also announced Saturday they are beginning an audit of buildings nearing their 40-year review — like the fallen Champlain Towers South — to make sure they’re safe.

While the engineering report from the firm of Morabito Consultants did not warn of imminent danger from the damage — and it is unclear if any of the damage observed was responsible for the collapse — it did note the need for extensive and costly repairs to fix the systemic issues with the building, specifically to fix the slab as well as damaged concrete columns beams and walls in the parking garage.

A half-dozen scientists and engineers who specialize in disastrous structure failures are headed to south Florida to collect firsthand information on the cause of the catastrophic collapse of Champlain Towers South.

Their initial work will be used to determine whether to pursue a more thorough study. Jason Averill at the National Institute of Standards and Technology says the first two members of the agency's team arrived in Florida on Friday and four more will be there by Monday.

That agency also investigated disasters such as the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11, the 2011 Joplin, Missouri, tornadoes and Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico.

SURFSIDE, Fla. — On Monday, the mayor of Surfside, Florida, shared a heartbreaking account of a little girl who's desperately hoping first responders will find her mother after last week's deadly condominium collapse.

Speaking at a news conference, Mayor Charles Burkett said he was touring the Champlain Towers site on Sunday night and came across a little girl who was 11 or 12 years old.

"One of her parents was in that building at the time of the collapse," Burkett said.

Burkett said the girl was sitting in a chair by herself, looking at her phone, as dozens of dedicated first responders dug through the mounds of dangerous rubble just feet away.

"I knelt down, and I asked her, 'What are you doing? Are you OK?'" Burkett said. "She was reading a Jewish prayer to herself, sitting at the site by where one of her parents presumably is. And that really brought it home to me. She wasn't crying. She was just lost. She didn't know what to do, what to say, who to talk to."

Burkett said he hopes to see her again and wants her to know the community is behind her.

"I am going to find her, and I am going to tell her that we're all here for her. And we're gonna do the best we can to bring out that parent," Burkett said.

Surfside mayor talks search-and-rescue efforts

Officials on Monday said that 10 people are dead and 151 are missing, four days after the Champlain Towers South condominium building partially collapsed. Officials added that they've accounted for 135 people who were in the building at the time of the collapse.

Emergency crews are working around the clock in 12-hour shifts using K9 dogs, various cameras, drones, sonar equipment, and heavy machinery to clear away chunks of debris.

"There's a joint effort, there's a camaraderie, and everybody has the same goal. And that's to pull people out of there," Burkett said.

Miami-​Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said, at this point, there are no plans to suspend the search-and-rescue operations.

"In the end, there are numerous variables and facts. It's not based on opinions; it's not based on time," Jadallah said. "We have to consider all options."

A large wall on Harding Avenue, just south of 88th Street in the shadow of the Champlain Towers, is growing on Monday, showing the names and photos of dozens of missing people.

Family members, friends, and even strangers stop by to pay their respects, light candles and leave small mementos behind.

One person even made a poster that reads "Thank You For Looking For My Grandmother."

WPTV

WPTV

WPTV

A Family Information and Reunification Center continues to operate at the Surfside Recreation Center, located at 9301 Collins Avenue, for people who are unable to locate their relatives who live in the building.

Loved ones can open a Missing Person Report by clicking here or calling 833-930-3701.

If you live at the Champlain Towers property or you know a person who lives there who has been found safe, click here.

This story was originally published by Matt Papaycik on Scripps station WPTV in Palm Beach, Florida.