NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Fifteen minutes to grab what they need.
Residents of the Crestview Towers condo in North Miami Beach lined up with carts and other items to help them carry their essentials Friday.
And, with a police escort, they were allowed back into their homes for just a few minutes.
They gathered clothes, medicine and important documents.
It came one week after the building was deemed unsafe — structurally and electrically — and 300+ people were told they need to leave.
“It’s unexpected,” one resident said Friday morning. “The day we were evicted we didn’t even get a notice”
On Thursday, the city said the tower remains uninhabitable for the foreseeable future, until the condo association submits a new 40-year recertification report that addresses all of the stated issues.
A recent county inspection found significant damage underneath the pool deck, corrosion inside a stairwell and a support column with some cracking.
The Crestview Towers condo association submitted its building’s 40-year recertification report to the city last week after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside on June 24. Crestview is about five miles from Surfside.
The report submitted by Crestview Towers was dated in January and highlighted poor surface conditions, concrete spalling and moisture on balconies.
The condo board paid an engineer over the weekend to conduct another property survey.
“The city rejected those reports because they did not comply with the recertification process — more importantly, they did not address the problems raised on condos original recertification,” City Manager Arthur Sorey III said.
Local 10 has learned the building has nearly a half-million dollars in outstanding fines for various code violations for issues that include inadequate emergency lighting and not maintaining fire equipment.
The situation could turn criminal, with police chief Richard Rand saying Thursday that an investigation was being opened.
Residents want to know when they will be able to return home for good.
Sorey says that is ultimately up to the condo association and when they can prove the building is safe.