As construction of a luxury high-rise in Brickell continues, residents who live nearby the site claim the project is jeopardizing the structure of their homes. NBC 6’s Julie Leonardi reports
As construction of a luxury high-rise in Brickell continues, residents who live nearby the site claim the project is jeopardizing the structure of their building and feel they are being kept in the dark over the problems they're seeing.
The residents on Biscayne Bay have been keeping an eye on the construction of Una Residences since it first flooded months ago. It happened again on Sunday, they said.
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WATCH HERE"It almost seemed like it was a deja vu moment," resident Christi Tasker said.
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The near-50 story condo is supposed to have a garage deep below ground — something that the people who live nearby don’t think is a good idea for their homes or the Bay. Residents worry debris would seep into the Bay because of an old sea wall.
"It’s beginning to be more than environmental," Tasker said. "This is humanitarian and what they’re doing is they’re putting a lot of people’s lives at risk — this is more than about buildings."
NBC 6 reported back when the Una Residences site flooded in October and in November.
Tasker didn’t expect to see it happen again, just after workers spent the weekend pouring concrete.
"We were told that this concrete was going to take care of everything," she said.
The project’s general contractor, Civic Construction, told NBC 6, “Our team is aware of social media speculation regarding water pooling on the Una Residences construction site. This pooling is the result of Saturday's concrete pour and is normal at a project of this size. There is currently six inches of water pooling and it is slowly draining.”
The contractor said that a rep with the county’s department of environmental resource management was on-site over the weekend and has given the go-ahead for the project to continue.
But neighbors still don’t have peace of mind.
"Unlike Champlain Towers, we’re actually preparing for the mistakes they're making," Tasker said.
