A Key West condo building is unsafe, city says, and residents fear they’ll be forced out
A 111-unit condominium complex in Key West is in dangerous condition with damage that includes major cracks in walls and stairwells, and exposed steel in vertical columns, according to the city’s chief building official.
“Structure is uninhabitable if not corrected IMMEDIATELY,” Raj Ramsingh, who has the authority to condemn the building, wrote in a hearing notice dated Wednesday.
The Santa Clara Condominium Association must produce a plan for repairs at a “condemnation hearing” set for Sept. 13 at City Hall, he said.
“Santa Clara was just Band-Aiding it for the last 15 years,” Ramsingh told the Miami Herald/FLKeysNews.com on Thursday. “The key is to keep it maintained.”
Floors and roofs are overloaded or have insufficient strength to be reasonably safe, Ramsingh said in the hearing notice.
The southwest stair tower has damage to the point where it “endangers the lives, safety or welfare of the occupants or the other people in the city,” he wrote. He cited an “unfavorable” report by consulting engineer J.L Sanders.
Ramsingh said he does not want to condemn the building, which would cause hundreds of people to be displaced. He is working with Santa Clara to come up with a plan.
But he also has to sleep at night, he said.
“If we can’t come up with something viable then I will have no choice,” Ramsingh said.
Santa Clara sits at 3312 Northside Dr. in Key West’s New Town neighborhood. While it has a gated entrance, it’s not known as a place filled with wealthy locals.
It’s where a two-bedroom, two-bath with 792 square feet sells for around $305,000, according to online real estate listings. A 528-square-foot one-bedroom was listed for $249,000.
Those are reasonable prices on the island, where a 200-foot studio can fetch $1,700 a month. The monthly condo fees at Santa Clara are about $600 to $700.
Built in 1980, according to real estate listings, the condos are home for about 300 people. Many fear they will be forced to move out in a city mired in a housing crisis.
“This whole place is workforce housing,” said Oliver Kofoid, an 18-year resident who is the condo board’s president.
Kofoid said the board is seeking a loan for the repairs, which are estimated at more than $8 million.
The property management company, ICAMCO Inc., on Wednesday terminated its agreement with Santa Clara, saying in a letter it could no longer be responsible for managing the condo association.
ICAMCO said it spent several years advising the condo board to do more to address the building’s conditions, and after 2017’s Hurricane Irma, recommended that the condo board approve a special assessment to start repairs while it waited on the settlement of a wind insurance claim.
Instead, the board decided to take out loans for repairs, but the loans and the insurance settlement weren’t enough to cover the needed repairs, the company said.
“We told them they had to act on the structural damages of the building,” said Peter E. Batty, president of ICAMCO. “They’re treading water and it’s finally filling up above their heads because the building is not getting healthier.”
Kofoid, though, said he feels safe at Santa Clara, where he lives in a one-bedroom on the complex’s north end.
“We’re not worrying about a collapse,” he said. “It’s spalling and concrete falling on someone’s head.”
To repay a loan for repairs, Kofoid said he’s personally looking at a $68,000 special assessment for his condo and the costs could be $120,000 for larger units. Instead of a huge chunk of money, the payments could be made by doubling the monthly condo fees.
Kofoid said, “The bottom line is health and safety, yes, I understand that. Is the city going to shut us down before we can raise the money?”
Key West ordinances do not require the building department to ask for recertifications on the structural integrity of buildings. But after the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Ramingh said City Manager Patti McLauchlin had building inspectors check out Key West condo buildings.
That’s when he took a look at Santa Clara.
“There are certain conditions that are unsafe,” Ramsingh said. “Does that make it uninhabitable? I don’t know. I need a structural engineer.”
For now, residents are left waiting.
“I had no idea it was ready to be condemned,” said Jeannette Saunders, who has lived in a one-bedroom at Santa Clara for five years. “However, my gut said, let’s get all of my nice things out of there. My daughter came down this weekend and helped me.”
Saunders, 76, a native of Key West, hasn’t lived at Santa Clara for about seven months. That’s before she learned of any structural damage.
She moved in with her sister to help her out and could remain there, she said. On Thursday, Saunders didn’t know what course she was going to take.
“I don’t know who would want to buy it if it’s going to be condemned,” Saunders said.
Jordan Conner and Sid Garber moved out three weeks ago because they didn’t feel safe in their two-bedroom condo.
“It’s literally rotten to the core,” said Conner, 29, a hair stylist. “This has been going on since 1987 and nobody has been held accountable for it.”
Conner and Garber are staying on a friend’s boat until at least the end of October.
Said Conner: “We’ve got a little bit of time.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "A Key West condo building is unsafe, city says, and residents fear they’ll be forced out."
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