A condo building in North Miami Beach has been closed and residents are being evacuated Friday after an audit and building inspection report outlined unsafe structural and electrical conditions.
The city of North Miami Beach ordered the 156-unit Crestview Towers Condominium, located at 2025 NE 164th St., to be closed immediately and the evacuation of its more than 300 residents. Officials did not immediately release details about the structural problems that prompted the evacuation, but the building had reported millions of dollars in damage from 2017’s Hurricane Irma.
“In an abundance of caution, the City ordered the building closed immediately and the residents evacuated for their protection, while a full structural assessment is conducted and next steps are determined,” North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur H. Sorey III said in a news release. “Nothing is more important than the safety and lives of our residents, and we will not rest until we ensure this building is 100% safe.”
It is the first building to be evacuated since municipal officials in South Florida, and statewide, began scrutinizing older high-rises in the wake of the Surfside collapse to ensure that substantial structural problems are not being ignored.After the tragic collapse, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava ordered an audit of buildings that were 40 years old and older. READ MORE
