Grand jury proposes sweeping reforms following Surfside condo collapse

A grand jury investigating the collapse of a Florida condominium building in June failed to find a cause for the structure’s sudden crash but suggested multiple reforms, including lowering the 40-year recertification process for buildings.

The grand jury in Miami-Dade County, which probed the June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building that killed 98 people, recommended the initial recertification process be lowered to 10 to 15 years and for buildings to be additionally recertified every 10 years thereafter, in a report released Wednesday.

The 12-story, 130-unit Champlain Towers condo was built in 1981 and was undergoing the standard 40-year recertification process when it collapsed. Experts told the jury that 40 years is “entirely too long to wait for a safety inspection.”

“A lot can happen to a building in 40 years,” the report reads. “We believe the Surfside tragedy and this report should be a wake-up call.”

Recertifying buildings much earlier would also help property owners, the grand jury said, because repair costs add up. At the time of the inspection, Surfside’s repairs were estimated to exceed $14 million.

The change would prompt a major reform in Florida, which has 1.5 million condos, 60 percent of which are more than 30 years old, according to the report.

The report also recommends that owners conduct more regular maintenance of their buildings and the development of policies to enforce their compliance. It also suggests increasing staff in the city’s Unsafe Structures Division, which handles complaints of buildings that are deemed derelict, among other findings.

Families of the victims have filed numerous wrongful death lawsuits against the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association, the owners of the collapsed condo.

Other agencies are also tasked with investigating the collapse of the building, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which doesn’t expect to release its findings for years.