Magistrate orders 60-day engineering reports after finding Sansusi Condominium unsafe

Special Magistrate Jose Smith affirmed city building staff's determination that multiple units and the common areas at the Sansusi Condominium are unsafe and ordered the association and unit owners to produce a structural-engineering report within 60 days.

The ruling came after Building Official Shaunie Pressie testified that inspections and photographs showed widespread cracking, shifting floors and other structural defects in several units, and that some inspected units were red-tagged and uninhabitable. "I was horrified by what I saw," the magistrate said, citing photos of holes and failing floor members; he added, "I don't want another Surfside on my watch," referencing the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Miami-Dade County.

Pressie said the county's unsafe-structure and 40-year re-certification process had already required further engineering review for the complex. Unit owners told the magistrate they lacked a full-building engineer report and said the condominium association had not paid for or retained a structural evaluation covering all affected buildings. One resident said an engineer had inspected individual units and deemed them unsafe but that the association had not funded a building-level evaluation.

Smith's order requires the association and all affected owners to present a comprehensive structural-engineering report within 60 days showing whether the building can be repaired and, if so, what work is required to restore safe occupancy. He directed the association to present remedial plans to the city and warned that, should the association fail to produce the requested report or corrective plan, city or county authorities could proceed with escalated remedies, including eviction/red-tagging of additional units, demolition permits or civil penalties. For the association's common-area violations, the magistrate set a sanction of $1,000 per day in the absence of compliance.

The magistrate encouraged owners to pursue legal remedies against the association if association inaction causes them to face fines or displacement. He told unit owners they would be treated consistently: if the association does not procure a cooperative, building-level report, the city may proceed with measures that could lead to full evacuation.

Next steps: the association and unit owners must submit the ordered structural-engineering report and any proposed remedial plan by the magistrate's 60-day deadline. The city's building official will review those materials and determine whether additional enforcement or emergency action is required.