The Town of Indian River Shores wasted no time in passing an ordinance mandating second inspections for any condominium building that did not pass the first inspection required by the new Florida state law passed in the wake of the 2021 Surfside collapse and amended in the last session of the state legislature.

The ink was barely dry on the new amended state law when the town council, at its last regular meeting in June, passed an ordinance that obliges any condo building needing a second inspection to apply with the town for a construction permit for the necessary repair work within 180 days. The only condo complex in the town that needed a second inspection, the 40-year-old 72-unit Robles del Mar condominiums, is already ahead of the game and has started the process of getting bids for repair work on its underground garage, where the first inspection had found falling chunks of concrete. The two main buildings of the Robles complex passed inspection and were deemed perfectly safe, but the garage was cited for needed repairs on a non-urgent basis.

 

“We have already notified the building department of the town of Indian River Shores, as far back as last February, that we were commencing repairs on our garage, which is what was cited (in the Phase One Milestone Inspection),” said Mark Shea, board chairman of the homeowners association (HOA) at Robles del Mar.

“We have gone out for bids and are evaluating them at the present time,” Shea added. “Hopefully we can begin work on this still this summer.”

The Robles underground garage serves and connects both the complex’s North and South buildings and Shea said the work will most likely start in the North building in the northeast quadrant. Initial estimates on the cost of the garage repair work have been around $600,000, which would have to be covered out of the HOA’s reserves, through a special assessment or through increases in monthly maintenance fees, or a combination of all of the above.

The City of Vero Beach does not do its own building inspections required by the new condo laws covering all older buildings three stories and higher near the ocean, but has asked the staff of Indian River County to assume that responsibility.

The only building that flunked the first milestone inspection in the whole county was the Seaquay condominium complex on SR A1A in Vero Beach across the street from Pelican Plaza. Extensive repairs that will last several months are already underway there, especially on the northeast corner.

The 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers condo complex in Surfside killed 98 people and led the Florida sate legislature to pass a new law forcing older condo buildings near the ocean to pay for milestone inspections and fully fund reserves for any repair shown to be necessary by those inspections.

The law led to significant cost increases for most condo dwellers across Florida, raising fears that many retirees living on fixed incomes would be forced out of their homes. At present the condo market in Florida is a buyers’ market, with many condo owners trying to sell to escape rising costs.

This spring, the state legislature slightly modified the law to supposedly mitigate its financial consequences. The changes give HOAs another year to comply and a little more flexibility in how to finance needed repairs, including with letters of credits from banks as newly accepted financial instruments.