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The luxury building next to the collapsed Florida condo offered to pay residents $400,000 after they complained that construction was causing their building to vibrate, report says

Jul 3, 2021, 18:55 IST
Insider
The partially-collapsed Champlain Towers South condo is seen next to the luxury Eighty Seven Park building, left. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
  • Developers of a building next to the collapsed Florida condo offered to pay residents $400,000.
  • According to WaPo, the offer came after Champlain Towers residents complained about construction.
  • The Champlain Towers condo association never accepted the money, the report says.
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The developers of a luxury apartment block that was being built next to the collapsed Surfside, Florida, condo offered to pay residents $400,000 amid complaints that construction was causing their walls to vibrate and debris to fall into the pool, The Washington Post reported.

According to court documents and email records obtained by The Post, the condo association of Champlain Towers, which partially collapsed more than a week ago, was sent a draft offer by the luxury high rise Eighty Seven Park, seeking to prevent them from opposing the project.

The agreement, which asked Champlain Towers homeowners to "reasonably support" the Eighty Seven Park project, was left unsigned after the association lawyers highlighted flaws in the proposal, The Post reported.

The offer came after multiple Champlain Towers homeowners complained that the construction next door was causing plastic foam and debris to fall into the pool as well as their walls to vibrate, according to The Post.

Earlier this week CNN reported that Champlain Towers South residents had previously complained about their building shaking during the construction of Eighty Seven Park.

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Terra Group and 8701 Collins Development LLC, two developers behind Eighty Seven Park, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

It remains unclear what caused the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South on June 24, which has killed at least 22 people. Multiple recent reports have detailed extensive structural problems at the building before the collapse.

CNN reported that there was no evidence that the construction of Eighty Seven Park contributed to the disaster.

8701 Collins Development LLC also said in a previous statement that it was "confident that the construction of 87 Park did not cause or contribute to the collapse that took place in Surfside," The Post reported.

Mara Chouela, a Champlain Towers South resident and condo association board member, had written in an email to a Surfside building official in January 2019 that the tower being built next door was "uncomfortably close," The Post reported.

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"We are concerned that the construction next to Surfside is too close," Chouela wrote, according to The Post and CNN. "The terra project on Collins and 87 are digging too close to our property and we have concerns regarding the structure of our building."

The two buildings were originally separated by a 50-foot-wide street, The Post reported, citing public records.

However, in 2013, 8701 Collins Development LLC reached a deal with the City of Miami Beach to acquire the street to build on it, The Post reported. A former Surfside official told the newspaper that residents of Champlain Towers were never informed.

Eighty Seven Park was built between 2016 and 2019. During its construction, environmental experts were concerned that the building was at risk of chronic flooding due to rising sea levels in Miami, with the environmental author Jeff Goodell referring to Miami as "the poster child for a major city in big trouble."

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