Unsafe condo building evacuated in Coral Springs, Florida

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — Citing a falling roof, inoperable windows and various electrical and fire safety hazards, the city of Coral Springs declared a condo unsafe Thursday, giving residents two weeks to evacuate.

The two-story, 16-unit Villa Bianca Condominium at 3990 Woodside Drive was nearly full, mostly with renters, the city said. Only one unit was empty — unlivable since a fire seven years ago, according to the city.

Thursday night, pink slips of paper were stuck to the weathered condo doors, declaring it an “unsafe building” that must be empty by Aug. 5.

The evacuation order was the first in Broward County since the collapse of the Champlain condo tower in Surfside in June. Since then, a few condos in Miami-Dade County also were declared unsafe and ordered closed.

Citing a falling roof, inoperable windows and various electric and fire hazards, residents of a Coral Springs condo were given two weeks notice to evacuate their homes after the city declared it unsafe on Thursday, July 22, 2021.

The Villa Bianca is in serious disrepair, but that was nothing new to Coral Springs officials. The city released records showing that the condo reached its 40th year six years ago, yet only now met with strict enforcement. Laws in Broward and Miami-Dade counties require 40-year-old buildings to undergo electrical and structural safety inspections, or face fines or worse.

Renters said they were well familiar with the Villa Bianca’s flaws.

Phillex Anderson, 26, and her husband, Jacob Henning, 25, rent unit 16 on the first floor for $1,460 a month.

It’s their first place together since moving from Georgia. They spent months searching for it. But after moving in in March, they found it wasn’t what they expected.

When it rains, their bathroom leaks. The ceiling has no panels. The plumbing, metal and wiring is exposed, they said.

Henning hired an inspector from a private company to look at their unit about two months ago. Henning said the inspector verified mold was growing between the roof and paint on their second bathroom’s ceiling.

In Anderson’s child’s room, mold grew along the base of the walls. The landlord said it was dirt, she recalled.

A month ago, Anderson heard a crash in the alley behind the building. A large piece of the roof had fallen. The crumbled, cracked roof remnant still rested behind the condo building Thursday.

They worry about where they’ll go next.

“To come up with that money again to go find a place to live,” said Henning, “it’s going to take at least a few months to save that kind of money.”

The building, completed in 1975, was due for its safety checkup in 2015. But four years passed before Coral Springs sent notices to the condo, the city acknowledged. And repairs still went undone. The city sent the case to a special magistrate two years ago, and fines began to accrue.

On Thursday, at an emergency hearing, Special Magistrate Mitch Kraft took a look at the condo’s “further deterioration” and brought down the gavel.

City Manager Frank Babinec and Mayor Scott Brook could not be reached by comment by phone or text message Thursday night.

Vice Mayor Joshua Simmons said the tragedy at Surfside forced the city to sit down and look at older condos that needed follow-up. He said the city lost more than a year of inspection follow-ups because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials said the Villa Bianca electric meter room door was missing, the fire alarm panel was in trouble mode, fire extinguishers were missing, exit signs were broken and roof tiles were loose.

Market values in the building range from $50,000 to $68,000, according to estimates from the Broward property appraiser.

As the overseers of building safety, cities across South Florida have scrambled since the June 24 Surfside condo collapse to see what dangers lie within their own building files. Enforcement of the 40-year law has been lax, the South Florida Sun Sentinel found.

The scope of unsafe structures remains unknown. An audit in Broward County, completed this week, found that last year alone, many cities didn’t bother sending the 40-year notices out.

City staff is working with the charitable group Coral Springs Community Chest to provide temporary housing assistance and help residents with applications for rental and utility funding.

City spokeswoman Lynne Martzall said the city doesn’t have “a clear picture” of the number of residents, because they are renters.

“We have provided residents with information to contact the city so we can determine they had leases and how many persons resided in each unit,” Martzall said. “The residents our building official spoke with said they were not surprised they would have to vacate based on the condition of the building.”

She said the condo was responsible for getting a 40-year safety certification, but it lacked the required condominium association that would collect money for repairs or ensure the building was properly maintained.

Simmons said if the property owners won’t make the necessary repairs, the city will tear it down.

“Because of the amount of repairs needing to be done, it could be a lot of money,” he said. “A tear-down is absolute last resort.”