Two years after Surfside collapse, a bitter feud over the oceanfront land
by Tim Craig
SURFSIDE, Fla. — On a lot scarred by the memories of 98 people who died here two years ago, developers are hopeful a new luxury oceanfront 12-story condominium building could soon rise.
The building, designed by a world-renowned architectural firm, will be constructed of glass fiber reinforced concrete and was partially inspired by one of South Florida’s most recognizable skyscrapers. As described by Dubai-based developer DAMAC International, 57 homeowners will live in a building that includes “soft, cloud-like elements” and a “facade that echo[es] the colors and textures of sand” as its stands over a pristine beach.
But as the replacement for the Champlain Towers South condominium building progresses, the project is caught up in an bitterly personal debate over whether the 1.8-acre lot should also include space for a memorial to those killed in one of the nation’s most horrific building failures. Nearly two years ago, the condo collapsed as most residents were asleep in their beds, leading to an anguishing search-and-recovery mission and, eventually, the demolition of what was left standing.
To family members who believe tiny remnants of their loved ones could still be lying undetected in crevices around the site, as well as in the ocean breezes that sweep across it each day, the proposal for a new building is the latest insult in a flawed and rushed redevelopment project.
To truly honor the dead, they say, the millionaires who will call the building home should have to share the high-priced strip of land with those who never got a chance to leave the location on June 24, 2021.
“I lost my sister and my brother-in-law, and we received just 1 percent of my brother-in-law and 33 percent of my sister,” said Martin Langesfeld, who was referring to his sister, Nicole Langesfeld, and her husband, Luis Sadovnic. “We can work together and incorporate a memorial on the site, and they can still build their ultra-luxurious apartments. But we don’t build over dead bodies in America.”
The emotional debate, which includes some family members of the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, is now dominating town meetings here in Surfside while serving as yet another test of how the nation recognizes grief and memorializes victims of tragedies.
From mass shooting scenes and the locations of deadly natural disasters, to newly discovered, centuries-old cemeteries, the question of what should come next has been vexing officials and developers for generations. Although some locations of mass death are ultimately preserved as memorials or historical markings, others have been rebuilt or repurposed as land values soar and communities seek ways to move beyond grief.
Shlomo Danzinger, the mayor of Surfside, said the city does not own the lot of Champlain Towers South and cannot dictate how it will be rebuilt. He also notes that Surfside is planning to build a permanent memorial to the victims of the collapse, on part of a public street that lies just a few yards from the footprint of the old building.
“You keep asking for something we can’t provide,” Danzinger told Langesfeld and other speakers who showed up at a town commission meeting on June 13 to protest the plans. “It’s not our property. … We cannot get you on the property.”
The developer, for its part, contends the new building will “add meaningful value to the beachside haven that is Surfside — and indeed, all of Miami.”
“We know we can never replace what was so painfully lost in Surfside and no single entity can ever do justice to a community’s memory,” said Niall Mc Loughlin, senior vice president of communications for DAMAC.
Within six months of the building’s collapse, the debris was cleaned up and transferred to a vacant lot in a western Miami suburb, even as the medical examiner continued identifying remains of the victims. Today, the footprint of the building includes the stub of former support beams and the buzz of water pumps that continually work to remove water from the site’s foundation.
As part of a $1.2 billion settlement to victims and survivors, the building’s lot was sold at auction last summer. There was only one bidder, DAMAC, which purchased the land for $120 million.
DAMAC hired Zaha Hadid Architects, a British firm founded by the late Zaha Hadid, to design the new condominium building on the site. Zaha Hadid, who died in 2016, had designed some of the world’s most breathtaking structures, including the 62-story One Thousand Museum residential building in downtown Miami.
Chris Lepine, director of Zaha Hadid Architects, conceded that the Champlain Towers South lot is “a charged site” but said his firm worked hard to “design the best possible” building to reflect its history.
“I think with such an important site, we do feel a responsibility to put in our best work, and our best efforts,” said Lepine, who added his firm and DAMAC strove to achieve “the best possible outcome architecturally for the site.”
Lepine said his firm has submitted two proposals for the property, mostly differing on setback and the vertical schemes. The units in the building will range from 4,000 to 12,000 square feet — easily making even the smallest residence a multimillion-dollar condominium in South Florida’s hot luxury-property market.
Lisa Shrem, 56, lost her best friend, Estelle Hedaya, who was 54, in the building collapse and now questions why she will not be able to visit with her on the site where she lost her life. Shrem said Hedaya and other victims’ “bones turned to dust” during the collapse, effectively turning it into a gravesite that should hold a memorial.
“It’s painful to see another building where people are going to live put on that site, for many, many reasons,” said Shrem, who added that just a few weeks ago Hedaya’s family received additional remains of her body from the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office. “Plans for the new building are beautiful — it’s a beautiful building — but it just feels like it will erase everything that happened there.”
Monica Iken, who lost her husband on 9/11 and is the founder of September’s Mission, has joined Surfside family members in advocating for a memorial to be incorporated into the plans for the new condominium building. Iken noted family members of 9/11 victims also initially had to fight back against plans to build the National September 11 Memorial Museum in a location other than the footprint of the World Trade Center.
“The developer has 1.88 acres. You could give the families 0.44 acres for a memorial,” Iken said. “You could make it a garden space. We are not asking for a big memorial. We are just asking for a piece of land so you are not building over the dead souls that are there.”
The portion of the Champlain Towers South that collapsed, creating a mound of debris where most of the victims were found, roughly equals 0.44 acres. The Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office did not respond to a phone call seeking comment on whether any human remains could still theoretically be on the cleaned-up disaster site.
Mc Loughlin, from DAMAC, said the decision against putting a memorial on the site was effectively made by the judge who decided to auction the land as part of the settlement. The judge, Mc Loughlin added, “wanted the sale to benefit those who suffered the most.”
Throughout South Florida, news that a luxury condominium building will eventually be built on the site has prompted one nagging question: Who would want to live there?
Mc Loughlin said the company believes the project will attract “affluent families from around the USA and globally” including “entrepreneurs, celebrities, and other leading families from around the world.”
Carlos Marquez, a Miami real estate broker and agent, said he doubts DAMAC will have trouble finding buyers.
“Everything sells here,” said Marquez, who expects there could especially be interest from foreign buyers who have less knowledge about the Champlain Towers South disaster. “People often don’t know the history of what happened in some of these other [South Florida] buildings. … Yes, it will be sad for some people. But for other people, it will be a nice, beautiful building next to the beach.”
In Surfside, where Marquez said two-bedroom units at another luxury condominium next to the Champlain Towers South footprint are currently valued at about $1,600 per square foot, the debate over the location of the memorial is swept up in a larger political feud over Danzinger’s leadership and relationship with DAMAC.
Last October, during a trip to the Middle East as his son was beginning service in the Israel Defense Forces, Danzinger traveled to Dubai and met with DAMAC founder Hussain Sajwani. Some family members of the victims and the mayor’s political rivals, including former Surfside commissioner Eliana Salzhauer, have accused Danzinger of cozying up to the developer instead of fighting for the interests of the victims.
“The family members were totally disrespected,” said Salzhauer, who sat on the commission from 2020 to 2022. “They are trying to fast-track construction of this building. It is absolutely unacceptable because we still don’t even know why [Champlain Towers South] collapsed.”
Salzhauer added she is still waiting for the mayor to respond to months-old public records requests seeking more details of his trip.
The mayor, for his part, likens the interest in his trip to the “biggest political witch hunt in Surfside history.” He said he met with DAMAC simply to try to gauge whether there was any way they would give, or swap, land with Surfside so a memorial could be built on-site to try to meet the demands of family members. He said he quickly determined a land swap would be too complicated because the company needed to make a return on its investment in the property.
Danzinger added he paid for his own expenses while in Dubai, although he ate lunch at Sajwani’s house in Dubai. He said he doesn’t have to respond to information requests about matters that do not involve his use of city resources and rejected the idea that he was building a relationship with the developer at the cost of advocating for constituents.
“There is no partnership here other than what happens between a city and a developer who is going to be building here for five years,” he said.
DAMAC officials also say there was nothing untoward or unusual about the meeting.
Raysa Rodriguez, 61, narrowly survived the collapse and now feels as though she and other survivors and relatives of victims aren’t getting any say in what happens next. She blames both the rushed sale of the land and a lack of unity among those who lost loved ones in the collapse.
“Maybe if people would have stuck together, maybe we would be closer to getting a memorial,” she said. “There hasn’t been a cohesive group since Day One.”
To Langesfeld, who lost his sister and brother-in-law in the tower collapse, any debate about the memorial cannot be separated from a discussion about its location. When he visits the memorial, the 25-year-old said he deserves to stand where his only sibling took her last step.
“They didn’t die a couple feet away,” Langesfeld said. “They died where they are trying to develop this ultra-luxurious building. They didn’t die next door. … And that is the sole reason they can even develop on the site is because 98 people were killed overnight.”
Shrem agrees, saying she often visits her friend’s gravesite in East Brunswick, N.J. Yet, as she walks around the burial site, Shrem says, “it doesn’t feel that is truly where she is.”
“But when I go to Florida, I feel that is where Estelle is,” she said. “And when they put a new building over it … no matter how beautiful that view is, you are living on top of people who suffered an enormous tragedy.”
