Condo buildings at sprawling northeast Miami-Dade complex deemed unsafe

Miami-Dade County declared several buildings at a condo complex in Northeast Miami-Dade unsafe, after they failed their 50-year recertification. 

Residents at buildings in the Jade Winds condominium complex received the notices earlier this week, NBC 6 reported. Jade Winds, at 1720 Northeast 191st Street, was built between the late 1960s and early 1970s. Residents were not ordered to evacuate. 

The unsafe structures violation lists the following issues: structural cracks on the floor of the common area of the Easter Lily Gardens building, exposed rebar, a corroded water valve in disrepair, and low electrical voltage. The case was opened in September, county records show. Other violations from earlier this year describe spalling rebar and cracks in the wall in the Allamanda Gardens building. 

Alleged violations at the property, which is in unincorporated Miami-Dade near North Miami Beach, go back years. In 2021, the Miami Herald reported that Allamanda Gardens at Jade Winds was 13 years past due on its 40-year recertification, then the longest incomplete recertification among buildings the county flagged after the Surfside condo collapse. The association said it had been working to dig itself out of a financial hole due to past alleged financial mismanagement and alleged embezzlement by a former condo board president and property manager, the Herald reported. 

A number of buildings have been declared unsafe following the June 2021 Surfside tragedy, in which 98 people were killed when the Champlain Towers South building collapsed. Since then, Florida lawmakers passed condo safety legislation that requires associations complete financial reserve studies, fully fund their reserves and maintain their structures. 

Last year, Jade Winds was also dealing with skyrocketing insurance premiums, in part due to the physical state of some of the roofs, which added to the pressure the association was already under to make repairs and comply with the new state laws. Some owners at the time said they are on fixed incomes and can’t afford special assessments to pay for insurance and repairs. 

An attorney for the association did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

— Katherine Kallergis

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