LTC 205-2013 Blackstone Building ® MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC# 205-2013 LETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Me bers of the y Commission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales City Manager
DATE: June 11, 2013
SUBJECT: Blackstone Building
The purpose of this Letter to the Commissio is to provide information on recent incident at the
Blackstone Building located at 800 Washington Avenue. As you know, the Blackstone is a 13
story residential Section 8 apartment building. The overwhelming majority of the residents are
seniors and a number of them require some level of assistance.
On Friday, June 7, 2013, there was a small fire in one of the units, the resident hit the sprinkler
head which broke off and released a large amount of water flooding not only his unit but a
number of other unit as well as the elevator shafts on the first floor.
The Building Department and Code Enforcement were called to building. The building
maintenance, working with elevator repair and emergency water removal companies, removed
the water from the elevator shafts. However, they were unable to return the elevators to normal
operations. It was estimated the repairs would take 24 to 48 hours.
At the recommendation of our Building Department, the management company placed a
security team on every other floor to assist the elderly residents in the event they needed to
leave the building. Additionally, the Fire Department established a special detail to assist.
The Office of Community Services along with a number of volunteers conducted a preliminary
assessment in anticipation of a possible relocation if the building was unable to bring the
elevators back to normal service.
On Saturday afternoon the elevators were repaired and inspected by a private company for
approval to run until Monday morning when our inspectors were on-site to recertify the
elevators.
I'd like to thank staff for their efforts to ensure the safety of residents.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
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