Study Suggests That Dozens of Luxury Condos and Hotels in South Florida Are Sinking at an ‘Unexpected’ Rate

Nearly three dozen luxury hotels and condos at Miami Beach are sinking into the ground at an “unexpected” rate, according to a study by the University of Miami.The study found 35 buildings — roughly 70 percent of the buildings in the northern and central Sunny Isles — sunk by as much as three inches between 2016 and 2023. The affected buildings include the Surf Club Towers, the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Trump Tower III, and the Trump International Beach Resorts. Several of the buildings have multi-million dollar penthouses. The study’s senior author, Falk Amelung, told the Miami Herald, “Almost all the buildings at the coast itself, they’re subsiding.”The study also found evidence that buildings in Broward and Palm Beach counties are sinking as well. A professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, Paul Chinowsky, told the Herald that it is not unusual for buildings to sink a couple of inches shortly after construction. And the sinking occurring at Miami may not pose structural problems for the buildings affected. “As long as it’s even, everything’s fine,” Mr. Chinowsky said. He added that if some parts sink faster than others, it can cause structural damage.Researchers for the University of Miami also looked into the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South at Surfside that killed 98 people. However, they found that there were “no displacement signals detected before the collapse, indicating that settlement was not the cause of the collapse.”While researchers say more monitoring is needed to determine whether the existing buildings are at risk of structural damage, they say their study is a “game changer” by establishing a “satellite-based method to monitor the ground stability of coastal high-rises.”Additionally, researchers and civil engineers say the study raises questions about development on vulnerable barrier islands amid questions about whether rising sea levels are eroding the limestone that buildings in South Florida are built on.Correction: Since publication of its original article, the Miami Herald has issued a clarification stating that the the University of Miami subsequently corrected its press release to remove references that the research also found signs of subsidence in downtown Miami and Brickell. This story has been updated accordingly.

Study Suggests That Dozens of Luxury Condos and Hotels in South Florida Are Sinking at an ‘Unexpected’ Rate

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