The clock is ticking for the deteriorating condo building in Key West that was given 45 days from Sept. 13 to submit a comprehensive plan and timeline for crucial structural repairs that have become a health and safety concern.
At the Sept. 13 hearing at City Hall about whether to declare the 111-unit Santa Clara Condominiums, 3312 Northside Dr., unsafe for habitation, Chief Building Official Raj Ramsingh instead opted to give the owners and their engineer 45 days to come up with a repair plan and a method of financing the repairs that could cost as much as $10 million.
The repair costs would require a bank loan and a special assessment levied among all owners to secure the financing. Each owner would have to pay a total of $70,000 to $90,000, depending on the size of their unit. The condo board has told Ramsingh that the first payment of the special assessment is due from all owners by Nov. 28.
In the meantime, multiple units at Santa Clara continue to be listed for sale on various online real estate sites, with asking prices dropping below $200,000.
That repair plan and timeline is due at City Hall by 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, as Ramsingh reminded the condominium board members in an email Ramsingh sent on Monday, Oct. 25 after speaking with two of the condominium board members.
In the email, Ramsingh emphasizes his expectations from Santa Clara’s engineer, Thomas Cheever by the Oct. 28 deadline, which include: a timeline for bidding of the repair job, a timeline for construction and a timeline and plan for the financing of the construction.
“As per our conversation this morning, it is my understanding that Mr. Cheever will be able to make the next deadline on the Order to Repair dated Sept. 13, 2021.
“I strongly recommend that this deadline be met. My expectation is there be a set of plans addressing the structural repairs, the timeframe and bidding process that will be used, estimated time of construction, and most importantly the financing plan.
“It is also my understanding from our conversation that the Nov. 1 deadline for the first payment due from the unit owners will now be moved to Nov. 28. Your explanation for extending that payment deadline was that there was not sufficient notice given to the owners and it needs to be voted on again at the Nov. 10 board meeting.”
Ramsingh addressed his email to condo board president Oliver Kofoid and board member John Walsh, but he also mentions discussions he has had with other Santa Clara unit owners not on the board.
“I have been receiving information from unit owners and others that loans are not being approved and insurances are being canceled due to an unsafe building declaration from this office. None of this information has been communicated by you in any of your correspondence with this office,” Ramsingh wrote.
“The building department issued a Petition to Declare the Building Unsafe and held a hearing on Sept. 13, where your new engineer went on record stating that the building was not in danger of collapse but did in fact have some structural issues. …Your engineer’s report dated Sept. 11, 2021 [states]: ‘There is no question the concrete deterioration, better known as spalling, observed at Santa Clara is the result of years, possibly decades, of deferred maintenance. In my career I have seen worse deterioration of structural elements, but I have never seen the systemic deterioration that is apparent at Santa Clara.’
“Given your engineer’s testimony at the hearing, we did not declare the building unsafe; instead, we issued an Order to Repair with specific time-certain deadlines. The next one is in three days and we are awaiting the documents.”
Keys Weekly has been in touch with unit owners who are not on the board, and learned from one owner on Wednesday, Oct. 27 that, “A group of owners has retained a law firm to represent us because the board is not effectively communicating with us or looking at assessments that actually just cover the immediate life-safety needs.”
