Phone calls and emails suddenly began pouring for Lisa Gardner, president of the Marenas Beach Resort Mansion Association.
A scientific study, led by the University of Miami, published in December, found that 35 buildings along Barrier Island in Miami had sunk beyond what would normally be expected. One of them was Marenas, a condominium hotel on the 28th floor in Sunny Isles Beach. Residents wanted to know what to think.
“I still have owners calling me or emailing me. They’re very worried. They’re scary,” Gardner said. But she was able to provide the immediate answer that most construction managers along the coast can’t. There’s no need to worry. The study found that Marenas had sunk about an inch between 2016 and 2023, but monitoring of sensors installed by the building in June 2024 showed that everything was in place.
“We at Marenas Beach Resort, we can tell you today that our structure is not moving, and we have real-time data,” Gardner told the Herald.
Gardner and her board spent about $20,000 to install an innovative wireless sensor system after construction of the St. Regis began next door. Its luxurious condominium project will rise above 60 stories high, more than twice the height of Marena.
“It’s huge,” Gardner said on a recent Sunday that surrounded residents and tourists enjoying the pool and beach, and next to it, hundreds of feet of stakes on the ground to carry two towers. Surrounded by heavy drilling machines. “They’re going to be digging in and their construction can have an impact on our foundations, our structure, anything,” she said.
For $1,600 for monthly maintenance, Miami-based company SmartCore provides access to data that helps flag possible damages and assess why it can be used in the case of a potential lawsuit. Masu.
The system was created by Mario Versiani, an entrepreneur who moved to Miami several years before the Southern collapse of Champlain Tower in 2021, killing 98 people, engineering inspections and maintenance of aging apartment buildings It caused a state order for overhaul.
Looking for warranty
Versiani lives in the 38-storey Bay House, a luxury condominium in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, and the tragedy threatens residents to even step into their balconies to enjoy a drastic view of Biscayne Bay. He said he was there.
As a member of the recently created HOA board of directors, Versiani believed that all he could do was to ensure the safety of its residents. However, when he asked the building engineer to send a statement, the answer was “can’t.”
“No one can really guarantee that a building is safe,” he said.
As a private pilot, Versiani knew that even the smallest metals in the plane’s screws could be traced back to the mines that return to the mines. Guaranteed, he said.
The skyscrapers that cater to even more people than planes, he said, hadn’t let a similar standard baffled him. He learned that he pointed out the fact that each party involved in the construction is responsible for only one aspect, such as design, soil analysis, or construction. No one was willing to guarantee the entire building.
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While not the only company that deploys sensors to monitor buildings, Verciani has technology from Move Solutions, an Italian company whose sensors are deployed to monitor the Bridges in Denver, the British Railways and the Colosseum in Rome. We founded Smartcore. In Lebanon’s large grain silos, sensors were able to warn engineers of the impending collapse and protect the site.
“The general purpose here is to monitor the overall performance of a building over time,” Versiani said, roaming the 30 sensors installed in the Bayhouse column since 2023, connecting to the server. Because this is the case, it records the smallest movements from indistinguishable vibrations. On a potential slope. “0.000015 degrees is accurate,” says Verciani, pointing to the 28th floor where the best sensors are available.
Some also measure vibrations. By logging in to SmartCore’s platform, engineers can determine the integrity of the structure and remedy the problem long before it leads to cleavage, cracks, or other symptoms visible to the naked eye. You can also pick up whether the building is slowly sinking. This can lead to structural problems, especially if one side of the building sinks faster than the other. Most famously, the slanting tower in Pisa is tilted because it is too heavy for soil built around 850 years ago. Millions have since been invested in preventing collapse.
Recently, San Francisco’s 58-storey architecture award-winning Millennium Tower has sunk more than expected, leading to a tilt of over 28 inches. The Hurricane Prevention Window plunged dozens of stories, and an additional $100 million investment could not improve the slope.
While bent buildings are not necessarily dangerous, they rarely attract investors or bring peace to residents.
Versiani believes South Florida is precisely the perfect launchpad for its difficult situation. Hurricanes, soil made from sand and porous limestone layers, tides that can corrode metals used in construction, salt water. He said, “When you build these difficult and challenging environments, you should monitor them and make sure the building is doing well.”
A University of Miami study pointed out no immediate safety concerns, but the unexpected sinking caused a long-term structural problem in a building with hundreds of units, including a multi-million-dollar penthouse. It could be connected. The study also questioned why experts say they need to investigate and the future impact of construction.
South Florida soils, made up of sandy layers and porous limestone, have always pose a challenge for developers. But the advances in construction and the billions of dollars that can be made from Oceanside apartments will make developers empty.
Miami now boasts the third-highest skyline in the United States, just after New York and Chicago. By 2028, the 85th floor panorama, which now holds the title of the tallest building in Miami-Dade, will be cast shadows by the new Waldorf Astoria. Over 1,000 feet, it is set to be first classified as a “skyscraper.”
A study from the University of Miami found that the new construction project, which had been discovered, was “accelerated, if not incited,” and excavations that could be further compressed by changing the layer of sand below the nearby building. It was referring to vibrations from.
According to Versiani, the sensors can detect such movements. Engineers can also use the data to learn how buildings will work and change over time, and to infer how they can build better in the future. Bayhouse said the certainty that the building is in good condition will help the insurance increase last year drop from 11% to 5%.
The business started two years ago, but Verciani says it is in discussion with several buildings identified in the study. Experts also say the need to better understand how buildings work in South Florida’s already challenging environment will only increase. Hurricanes and rainfall become more intense as greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm our climate. Rising sea levels and rising tides can allow salt water to penetrate previously unreached areas, leading to underground corrosion.
Gardner, a part-time resident who also lives in Texas, said he didn’t consider these changes when he invested in Marenas in 2021. It’s a joy, but when you buy, you’re not really thinking about the level of the sea and sinking until you’re involved and really know what’s going on,” she said.
The sensors have given her peace of mind, she said. Christmas Eve has been an unintended test run. Gardner said it registered an unusually high vibration and the sensor alerted everyone to go crazy. It quickly became clear that the technician who changed the batter had forgotten to disable the alarm. Unfortunately, it was also a proof of concept, Versiani said. “It’s doing what it was meant to be,” he said.
The story was originally published by the Miami Herald, and was published by the Florida Clemate Report Network, the Miami Herald, the Sun Sentinel, the Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, the WLRN Public Media, and The The The The The We shared it in collaboration with our partner’s initiative, the Florida Creemate Report Network. Tampa Bay Times.
This Climate Report is funded by Florida International University, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in partnership with journalism funding partners. The Miami Herald retains editing control for all content.
