MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC# 020-2022 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Honorable Mayor Dan Gelbe~ mbers of the City Commission
FROM : Alina T. Hudak, City Managw \
DATE: January 19, 2022
SUBJECT: Deauville Beach Resort, 6701 Collins Avenue-Update
The purpose of this Letter to Commission is to provide additional information regarding
the property containing the former Deauville Beach Resort ("Deauville") as a follow up to
the Letters to Commission (LTC) issued on January 7th and 10th , 2022 . This update
includes the results of the building inspection and the efforts to address the comments
from the Historic Preservation Board (HPB).
SUMMARY
The Deauville is a contributing building within the North Beach Local Historic District. It
has been closed since July 25 th of 2017 when there was a fire in the Deauville's
electrical room. Damage to the building structure before and after the closure of the hotel
has been of grave concern to the Mayor and City Commission as well as the
Administration. This concern predated the collapse of the Champlain Tower South, and
the concern has been intensified since that time .
After years of enforcement action and litigation, including over $1.?M in fines , the owner
has finally provided the required Structural Condition Assessment Report. Unfortunately,
that report makes clear that the building is unsafe and cannot be saved due to structural
defects. On December 15th of 2021 the structural report was submitted to the City of
Miami Beach. The City performed a careful review of the 124 page structural report
submitted by the structural engineer Heather Anesta PE of Anesta Consulting, Inc. The
City verified the credentials of Ms Anesta and the Building Official followed up with her
regarding clarifications on the report, as well as prepared a team to perform a site
inspection to the Deauville Hotel. The site team from the City included the Building
Official, who is a structural engineer by trade, a structural engineer/threshold inspector, a
Consultant structural engineer, a Consultant registered architect with historic
preservation experience, the Chief Building Inspector and several members of the Fire
Department to ensure the safety of the group. The combined team has over 120 years of
construction experience in South Florida.
THE BUILDING OFFICIAL'S INSPECTION
The Building Official' s review has co nfi rm ed the follow ing:
1) The interior conditions depicted in the Report were verified by the Inspection
tea m.
2) The building has one expansion joint which does not separate the tower portion
and the lower ballroom portion.
3) The lobby and ballroom area has the larger spans.
4) A majority of these columns do not have lateral bracing in more than one
direction.
5) There is a reduction of both vertical and lateral load capacities throughout the
structure.
6) The structural engineer is accurate in her assessment of the building exceeding
its lifespan.
Simultaneously the Building Official submitted the engineers structural report to the
County staff that administers the Board of Rules and Appeals (BORA) for peer review.
BORA is the designated entity that oversees the day to day operations of Building
Officials across the County and ensures that all decisions are consistent with the Florida
Building Code. The BORA staff opinion concurs with the structural assessment and
indicates "I concur with the recommendation to demolish."
DEMOLITION ORDER
As a result of the information above, the City of Miami Beach Building Official has
declared the Demolition Order for the unsafe structure of the Deauville Hotel, based on
[EB]FBC-406, Miami-Dade County Chapter 8, and City of Miami Beach Code section14-
500.
HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS
In furtherance of the Historic Preservation Board (HPB) recommendations the City
included an outside structural engineer and architect in the team that inspected the
Deauville on January 14th , 2022. The City has also begun the process of the 3D laser
scan of the Building in order to fully document the existing building proportions. The field
activities related to the scanning are nearly complete and they are now working on the
modelling. The City issued a letter to the owners of the Deauville urging them to
preserve all architecturally and historically significant elements of the building that can
safely be removed and stored . Further, the retention of important and distinctive
architectural elements and materials will be a significant factor in the Board's
deliberation of the required applications for an after-the-fact Certificate of
Appropriateness for demolition.
The City has continuously made significant efforts since the closing of the Deauville in
2017 to find new and impactful ways to protect our historically contributing buildings
including taking them to the County Unsafe Structures Board to compel them to make
repairs; issuance of violations and fines; filing lawsuits; as well as requesting for
appointment of a receiver for this particular property on multiple occasions. That being
said, we will continue to look for ways to learn from this experience and find new and
better ways to require property owners to do the right thing. Finally, the permitting
process for the demolition will require Miami-Dade County Department of Environmental
Resources Management (DERM) approval and they will review all aspects of protection
for the environment.
EC/AS/TM
