Mr. Topp stated that water had consistently leaked into the underground garage beneath the pool deck. Workers removed pavers from the deck on a regular basis to perform repairs. The amount of work needed on the tower was piling up, prompting residents to speculate about a looming assessment in the millions of dollars to cover the bill.
Mr. Topp told a building maintenance worker that he and his brother intended to sell the unit, which they eventually did in 2019. He stated that the man responded, "Good call."
"I don't like how the building is holding up," Mr. Topp, 61, said the worker said. "One of the columns in the garage appears to be leaning."
Champlain Towers South, once elegant and cutting-edge, deteriorated over decades into a corroded, leaky, and unstable structure that collapsed this year in one of the deadliest building collapses in U.S. history. The causes of the collapse, which claimed the lives of 98 people, are still being investigated. Engineers believe a combination of issues, including design flaws, poor construction, and delayed maintenance, were to blame.
Aside from the deaths, the building's demise exemplifies everything that can go wrong with the joint ownership model at the heart of the condo-building waves that have fueled American real-estate development. After a builder completes a project, unit owners must assume responsibility for the building's upkeep, which is typically done through elected condo boards. As the maintenance bill grows larger over time, getting scores of constantly changing unit owners to pay can become increasingly difficult, resulting in postponed repairs.
Champlain Towers South began with great promise and was sold to buyers enticed by the allure of owning a piece of beachfront property.
The building began to show signs of distress as the shine wore off. Some owners attempted to address the issues, while others resisted or sold their properties in order to avoid responsibility. Squabbles erupted among the residents. It was too late by the time the board came together behind a plan.
'A little piece of paradise'
When Champlain Towers South first opened in 1981, Mayor Mitchell Kinzer saw it as a valuable asset that would usher in a new era of luxury development in the city. Following the ribbon-cutting, the developers invited the mayor to one of the high-floor units for a tour. "It was incredible up there. "The water was crystal clear," Mr. Kinzer, now 70, said.
The developers marketed Champlain Towers South as an elegant retreat, but they priced the units in a range that made smaller units with less-appealing views affordable to middle-class buyers.
Miryam Flint felt she had found a piece of paradise when she moved into Champlain Towers South in 1981.
Saunas, a heated pool, and valet parking were available at the building.
"It was a beautiful project," said Ms. Flint, 72, who sold her fourth-floor unit three years later to buy a larger place.
Judit and Horacio Groisman purchased a sixth-floor unit in 1984, after he landed his first job as a doctor. According to county records, the couple paid $186,500, which equates to about $492,000 in today's dollars.
Birthday parties for their two children were held in the recreation room, and barbecues were held beneath thatched huts near the beach. "It was such a 'it' building," Ms. Groisman, 68, remarked.
Cascaded evaluations
The Groismans sold their unit, 611, to Gustavo Tames Jr. in 1988 for $180,000, or approximately $418,000 in today's dollars. When he got home from work as the owner of an auto-repair shop that specialized in European vehicles, he'd pour himself a glass of scotch and head to the hot tub to relax.
Over time, he noticed that water occasionally dripped from the ceiling of the underground garage, beneath the pool deck. Because the seepage would stain residents' vehicles, maintenance workers installed aluminum gutters beneath the leaking areas, directing water to fall between vehicles.
Mr. Tames, 63, remembered thinking, "That's not too cool." "But it didn't worry me."
When he and his then-wife divorced in 1994, they sold the unit for $200,000, or $377,000 today. Around that time, Mr. Tames learned that the building's condo board intended to charge owners an assessment that would result in an additional $400 monthly payment for their unit, on top of the $400 or so they paid in monthly maintenance fees.
He claimed that water was siphoning through the pool deck to the garage below.
According to documents filed with the town, the $156,000 repair was completed in 1996 and 1997. Workers installed a layer of waterproofing and pavers on the pool deck, as well as removed loose concrete and treated steel rebar in the garage with rust-inhibiting coating. According to the documents, they repaired about 20 square feet of cracked concrete in the garage ceiling.
Magda and Jose Pelaez, who purchased Mr. Tames's unit in 1994, were dissatisfied with the assessment for that work but decided it was worthwhile.
The condo unit was used for weekend getaways by the couple, who lived in nearby Hialeah.
They learned in 2001 that the board intended to conduct another assessment, this time to reinforce the building's balconies.
The couple sold unit 611 in 2002 due to the looming bill. "We said, 'No, no, this is getting out of hand with the assessments,'" Ms. Pelaez, 72, explained.
According to documents filed with the town, the project involved chipping balconies down to the rebar to see if it had rusted and needed to be sandblasted and recoated. According to the contractor's notes, some balconies were cracked, and workers had to completely replace the decks in a few cases.
According to some residents, significant restoration work on the building stalled for the next decade and a half. That concerned Albert Eskenazi, a contractor who bought a sixth-floor unit in 2004 for around $473,000 in today's dollars and sold it two years later for 73% more after upgrading to a larger ninth-floor unit.
He enjoyed living at Champlain Towers South at first, but disconcerting flaws became apparent over time, he said. Pavers on the pool deck became loose and jutted up, allowing water to infiltrate, he claimed. During a storm, he noticed sliding-glass doors in the building bulging as if about to burst.
"I could see things deteriorating," Mr. Eskenazi, 61, who lived there with his girlfriend, who is now his wife, said.
He stated that he expressed his concerns to the condo board, but that no action was taken. He was concerned that the growing list of issues would result in a hefty bill for owners, on top of the roughly $600 per month in regular maintenance fees.
"I told him, '$600 is enough.'" 'I don't want to start paying extra assessments,' said Mr. Eskenazi. "We just decided to leave."
In 2009, he sold the unit for $38,000 less than he paid.
Falsehoods and ego clashes
What residents didn't realize at the time was that the tower's problems were far more serious than the visible signs of deterioration suggested, according to an earlier Wall Street Journal investigation. In some areas, the building's structural slabs were supported by thin columns rather than beams. Specially designed heavy walls used to reinforce structures were also lacking. In some areas, there was insufficient rebar, while in others, builders used insufficient protective concrete over the rebar.
As the building approached the end of its fourth decade in early 2018, the condo board began preparing for a Miami-Dade County requirement that buildings undergo an inspection and any necessary repairs be performed when they reach the age of 40. In July of that year, the board hired Morabito Consultants, an engineering firm, to conduct structural and engineering inspections.
The firm's report, released in October 2018, contained sobering findings. Failed waterproofing beneath the pool deck and entrance drive had resulted in significant structural damage to the concrete slab, a problem that would "expand exponentially" if not addressed, according to the report. It referred to the slab's design, which was flat rather than sloped to allow water to drain, as a "major error," and discovered that many columns in the garage were cracked and needed to be repaired immediately.
Rosendo Prieto, a town building official, addressed concerned residents at a board meeting in the building's recreation room a month later, according to Susana Alvarez, who owns a 10th-floor unit. "'I wouldn't worry too much,' he said. 'Your building is in excellent condition,' she recalled.
Ms. Alvarez said she gave a relieved look to a friend and thought to herself, "This isn't a big deal." Great.”
According to Ms. Alvarez, 63, who regularly attended meetings, the board made little progress the following year as its members became preoccupied with personal conflicts.
Anette Goldstein, the daughter of one of the building's developers, resigned in September 2019, citing "ego battles, undermining the roles of fellow board members, circulation of gossip and mistruths," according to a letter she sent to residents. Ms. Goldstein did not respond.
Four other board members resigned over the next two weeks, and a new group took control at a contentious board meeting on Oct. 3.
A new board president blasted through a speech she had written in which she accused an existing board member of unethical behavior.
"I was completely taken aback," Ms. Alvarez said. "That was the building's lowest point."
'Earthquake, earthquake,' they say.
Residents will elect a new board of directors in February 2020, led by Jean Wodnicki. She presented an overview of the renovation plan at a board meeting that October, with an initial cost estimate of around $9 million.
Ms. Wodnicki informed those who called that the garage had been exposed to water intrusion for nearly 40 years due to a lack of waterproofing over portions of it. Inspections revealed 131 balconies with potentially deteriorated rebar. Two months later, the building manager announced that the estimated cost of repairs had risen to approximately $15 million.
The board pushed ahead as the year 2021 began. Ms. Wodnicki wrote in a letter to residents four days before an April 13 vote on the assessment, "A lot of this work could have been done or planned for in years gone by." But that's where we are right now."
Some residents signed a petition asking for the assessment to be reduced to $12 million. Board members, however, approved the $15 million assessment on the day of the vote.
Gabriel Nir, whose family had been renting a first-floor unit since January, was baking salmon when he noticed a knocking sound, he said. Sara Nir, his mother, also heard it and expressed her hope that it would stop soon.
After a while, the banging became more audible.
Mr. Nir, 25, recalled his mother walking to the lobby to notify the security guard. Mr. Nir was startled by an even louder rumble and a large splash. He didn't realize it at the time, but the pool deck had collided with the garage below. "Earthquake, earthquake!" his mother screamed from the lobby.
Mr. Nir stated that he grabbed his 15-year-old sister and rushed out of their unit as it filled with dust. He noticed a street-level parking area near the pool deck had vanished just outside the condo building's front entrance.
Mr. Nir called 911 at 1:22 a.m., according to county records. A thunderous noise can be heard about 20 seconds into a recording of the call. Champlain Towers South, including their unit, had recently collapsed.
"Holy shit!" exclaimed someone. Mr. Nir yelled.
As the Nirs fled, the 911 operator inquired as to what he was seeing. "I heard something about a bridge collapse in Miami Beach," the operator said.
"Yeah, yeah," he agreed.
"Did a bridge collapse?" inquired the operator.
"No," Mr. Nir replied. "A structure."