Residents of two condo buildings in Pembroke Pines were ordered to evacuate after their buildings were deemed unsafe. NBC6’s Marissa Bagg reports
Another building of a Pembroke Pines condominium has been deemed unsafe Wednesday, and residents living there have 10 days to vacate.
The city posted notices on building two of the Heron Pond Condominiums on 100 SW 83rd Way ordering the building needed to be vacated by Aug. 26.
“It was shocking because they didn’t give us a month prior,” said one resident, who didn’t want to be identified.
Just this past Monday, the city ordered residents of buildings three and 10 to leave by Aug. 24, citing the structures were in violation of state building and fire prevention codes.
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The resident NBC6 spoke to on Thursday has lived there for five years and blames poor management by the Heron Pond Condominium Association.
“They keep on increasing the rent without fixing anything,” said the tenant.
NBC6 reached out to the condo association, which put us in touch with its lawyer, Ben Solomon with Association Law Group. NBC6 asked how the buildings got to this point of needing such drastic repairs.
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“It’s an unfortunate situation this is an older condo,” Solomon said. “The product is decades old. It was a wood construction project so it’s much more susceptible to termites, water damage and other casualties. The association maintains the property but these things have caught up.”
Solomon said that the engineer it hired said the buildings are safe, blaming what happened in Surfside for the city’s decision to vacate the buildings.
“A lot of these issues have been around for a long time but there are at the height of everyone’s focus now, and Heron Pond is one of the victims,” Solomon said.
Solomon predicted that more people will be in this situation because of the new laws going into effect from Surfside. His advice is to make repairs now in order to avoid this situation.
Notices show balconies in all the buildings were shut down on Jan. 19. In July, Pembroke Pines Police posted a letter saying all 19 buildings showed “signs of structural deterioration and potential unsafe conditions."
According to the property manager, they have been trying to repair the balconies since April. An engineer has conducted inspections to determine the buildings' structural integrity. When the engineer's final report was delayed last week, the city decided to order vacate notices.
The property manager told NBC6 earlier this week she has been working with the engineer to get the final report to the city and hopes to appeal the vacate notices.
