MIAMI-DADE, Fla. — This weekend in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood, a building at a construction site partially collapsed. Now, the City of Miami is trying to figure out what went wrong.
Off of Seventh and busy Brickell Avenue, parts of a building narrowly missed pedestrians and drivers on Saturday afternoon. Local officials say demolition crews were working on the site when it happened.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported.
But this is not the first time we have reported building collapses in Miami-Dade County. A picture from July shows the aftermath of a roof collapse for an unoccupied building.
Last year, an apartment building in Hialeah suffered a partial collapse. In 2021, the Surfside condo collapse claimed 98 lives.
But what are city officials doing to try to stop this from continuing?
Florida 24 Reporter Sophia Hernandez asked Sabina Covo, a City Commissioner representing the Brickell Area.
It’s an area that is no stranger to construction and experienced a previous building collapse back in 2016.
“(Have) there been discussions or pushes on your end to maybe observe protocols and practices or some kind of mitigation efforts to kind of maybe look into this issue a little bit more clearly?” asked Hernandez.
Covo replied, “We are working with the building department, and we are trying to put in policy very soon to make our not only permitting process but also the logistics around it more strict.”
Covo said while they have not made concrete decisions as to how things could change, she hopes that procedure will not allow for demolition or construction in highly populated areas. It’s to make sure that a large amount of property and roadways are closed off so people don’t get hurt.
As for this site, on Monday, the City of Miami met with FDOT, the demolition contractor of the property, the property owner, the engineer, and Miami Fire Rescue.
They agreed that the contractor and engineer will repair scaffolding protection on the site's south side and make sure the building is safe and stable. After that, FDOT will reopen traffic nearby.
In order to resume demolition, the contractor must provide a report about what happened, if safety measures were overlooked, and any changes they’re making moving forward.
According to the City of Miami, the contractor has to prove what safety changes it's making.
This includes making sure all future work is only done at night with police and full lane closures on the roads nearby.
