Judge approves sale of Florida condo collapse site to benefit victims

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A Miami-Dade Circuit Judge has approved the sale of the property where the Surfside condominium building once stood for the benefit of the victims of the tragedy.
• According to court records, the sale of the site of the Champlain Towers South could fetch $100 million.
• The June 24 collapse left at least 95 people dead and others still missing. 

A Florida judge has approved the sale of the oceanfront property where a collapsed Florida condominium once stood, with proceeds intended to benefit victims.

At a hearing, Miami-Dade circuit judge Michael Hanzman ordered that the process begin to sell the site of the Champlain Towers South, which could fetch $100m to $110m, according to court records.

Hanzman’s ruling came as part of a series of lawsuits filed in the wake of the 24 June collapse, which left at least 95 people dead and others still missing. A cause has not yet been pinpointed, although there were several previous warnings of major structural damage at the 40-year-old building.

The court-appointed receiver handling finances related to the condo, attorney Michael Goldberg, said the judge wanted the sale to move quickly.

“He wants us to start exploring a potential sale,” Goldberg said of the judge in an email. “He did say he wants the land to be sold and the proceeds to go directly to the victims as soon as possible.”

Goldberg said the decision did not necessarily preclude a buyer from turning at least some of the site into a memorial, as some have advocated. Other survivors want the structure rebuilt so they can move back in.

The judge put the lawsuits on a fast track and authorized Goldberg to begin disbursing insurance money to victims and families.

Meanwhile, recordings were released by the police of 911 calls made as the building collapsed in the early hours of 24 June.

“Oh my God! The whole building collapsed!” one caller told a dispatcher at the local Miami-Dade police department. The names of callers were not released.

“We’ve gotta get out. Hurry up, hurry up. There’s a big explosion,” a second caller said, adding: “There’s a lot of smoke. I can’t see anything. We gotta go.”

A cause has not yet been pinpointed, although there were several previous warnings of major structural damage at the 40-year-old building.

One caller, a woman, said she saw what appeared to be a large depression near the swimming pool, which had concrete problems that are being investigated.

“I woke up because I was hearing some noise. I couldn’t understand what was happening. I looked outside and I saw the patio area sinking down. The pool area started sinking down,” the caller said, adding: “There are many parts of the building that went down. The building just went into a sinkhole. There will be many, many people dead.”

During a news conference on Tuesday, Levine Cava said the number of people considered missing in the collapse had dwindled as authorities work to identify everyone connected to the building. The mayor said 14 people remained unaccounted for, which includes 10 victims whose bodies have been recovered but not yet identified – leaving potentially four more victims to be found and the eventual death toll likely to be close to 100.

Source: The Guardian