A proposal before the Surfside town commission has failed — at least for now — to extend a memorial on the beachfront property where 98 people died when the Champlain Towers South condominium building collapsed more than two years ago.
At its meeting Tuesday night, Surfside commissioners did not bring up the issue for a new vote. The previous week, it had rejected the proposal advanced by Mayor Shlomo Danzinger to extend the Surfside victims' memorial from 88th Street onto the beachfront condo site where the building collapsed on June 24, 2021. The final vote was 3−2 in opposition.
Commission opponents — Nelly Velasquez, Marianne Meischeid and Fred Landsman — cited lack of clarity, lack of support from families and concerns over potential benefits for the developer for, in part, voting against the plan at the July 25 meeting.
A number of relatives of those killed in the 2021 collapse have called for a memorial to be constructed on the same land; Danzinger had proposed a compromise to include part of the memorial on that land, and presented it at the last town meeting on July 25. In exchange, he told the commission that the developer would get some additional footage.
Critics said they felt the mayor wasn't fully transparent in presenting the proposal, noting that he visited the DAMAC International headquarters in Dubai to hold talks with the development company chairman Hussain Sajwani without announcing the visit publicly beforehand.
A spokesperson for DAMAC International told WLRN the developer did not plan or pay for Danzinger's visit.
In an Aug. 3 email to WLRN, DAMAC spokesperson Sissy DeMaria-Koehne said the July 25 town meeting included “misinformation and misconceptions” about the developer's plans for the site and his talks in Dubai last year with Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger.
READ MORE: Critics question Surfside mayor's relationship with Dubai developer
“The developer understands the unique and significant sensitivities involved with this property and remains committed to addressing concerns and to maximizing benefits for stakeholders while also ensuring privacy for future residents of its exclusive boutique condominium," she wrote.
The Dubai-based developer, DAMAC International, bought the site last year and plans to build a luxury condo building.
Tensions have grown between families and the mayor since it was learned earlier this year that he had traveled last year to Dubai and met with the billionaire developer without letting families know about the trip beforehand or disclosing what they talked about.
A much-debated trip to Dubai
Danzinger’s Dubai meeting last October with the developer only became public after DAMAC officials last January confirmed the meeting to the Miami Herald.
The developer “did not pay for any flights, accommodation or any other expenses incurred by the Mayor during his stay,” DeMaria-Koehne wrote in her email to WLRN on behalf of DAMAC International.
She said the stop in Dubai was part of the mayor’s planned trip “to Israel for his son’s graduation," which the mayor addressed publicly in a commission meeting in February, after the Miami Herald's story on it the month before.
“During this stopover the Mayor of Surfside attended a meeting, suggested by senior management at DAMAC International, to meet with the DAMAC Chairman,” DeMaria−Kohne wrote. “This allowed them to meet for the first time and casually discuss the developer’s plan for 8777 Collins Avenue and how a memorial might be accommodated on site.”
“DAMAC strongly objects to any inference of wrongdoing,” she added.
DAMAC International originally purchased the 1.8-acre site for $120 million after a Miami judge approved the sale as part of a settlement with victims’ families and property owners.
In the email to WLRN, DeMaria−Kohne noted the judge’s actions in approving the sale and pointed out that “there is no condition of the sale requiring a memorial to be located on the site.”
“Despite being under no obligation to accommodate an onsite memorial, DAMAC has attended and partook in discussions with Surfside Commissioners and members of the Town’s Memorial Committee more than a year ago, to discuss the potential to incorporate a memorial on the property,” she wrote.
She reiterated in her mail that the mayor’s proposal — the one not approved at the July 25th meeting — was an effort by town officials to find a compromise with victims' families to talk about extending the memorial to the site of the collapsed building.
The email to WLRN also included a written statement from Niall McLoughlin, who is DAMAC International’s senior vice president of communications. He wrote that the developer expects to see more politics and “grandstanding” before the town’s next election in March 2024.
“Given the upcoming Town elections, DAMAC would not be surprised to see further caustic ‘political theatre' in Surfside, additional grandstanding, and attempts to derail the project and publicly discredit the company for political gain or self-interest,” his statement read. “We are confident that the submitted project is consistent with the Town’s regulations and look forward to continuing to work with the Town and stakeholders.”
Refocusing on 88th Street
With the proposal to put part of the memorial on the property rejected, family members and the commission are focusing on a previously allotted space along 88th Street.
"I would not be here if I didn't lose my daughter, my son in law, their cousins and so many other victims that I got attached with their families," said Andrea Langesfeld in the Aug. 8 meeting. She's the mother of Nicole "Nicky" Langesfeld, who died along with her husband, Luis Sadovnic, in the disaster. "I'm here asking for respect again and again and again. I only care that on 88th Street, we're going to have the memory of our loved ones, that they went in 12 seconds."
Commissioner Marianne Meischeid said she supported calls for the majority of 88th Street for a memorial.
"Because of the sensitivity of the issue, I think we need to work together with the community and with the developer for an acceptable outcome," Meischeid said.
The mayor, though, pointed out that 88th Street is not a private street, and he said the town could not dedicate the entire street to the memorial because of access requirements from the Florida Department of Transportation — like for garbage and fire trucks.
"We will continue to do what we can," Danzinger said. "We will take as much of that street as we can to dedicate towards a memorial. We will continue forward with the memorial on 88th Street as much as we are legally able to obtain."
Commissioner Fred Landsman addressed the public's concerns over the size and look of the future DAMAC International building in Tuesday's night's meeting.
"Although there's a lot of anxiety over the new building that will be on the site of the CTS [Champlain Towers South] tragedy, nothing has been approved yet," Landsman said. "It's still coming through the process. It hasn't been approved by the town planner [Judith Frankel] yet, it hasn't been approved by Planning and Zoning."
The town hosted a committee meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss the three firms that applied to design the Surfside memorial. The bids were due earlier this month.
DAMAC is expected to present its design for the property to the town's Planning and Zoning board in late August and the plan will then go before the commission for its likely final approval in September.
