Thefts at High Rises Have Some Residents on Edge

For some residents in downtown Miami's fancy high rises, the security in the parking decks isn't so secure.

Marshall Grady says he recently caught a couple of men trying to steal his motorcycle.

“They wheeled it down with a dolly on a back tire, and two guys and I caught them wheeling it in the back room, where obviously no one was there,” Grady told NBC 6.

Resident Kurt Gladsky said his neighbor almost had his SUV stolen.

“2011 escalade right in this building, both locks punched out and he's in the security business,” Gladsky said.

Both men live at the Vizcayne, one of the newer residential towers on Biscayne Boulevard.

A surveillance picture shows another vehicle being stolen out of the building's garage, similar to a car called a T-Rex, which runs about $60,000 new.

Police said stolen motorcycles and vehicle thefts at downtown high rises are not unusual.

They've been dealing with the issue over the past few years, since the influx of residents moved into the buildings on Biscayne boulevard and Brickell Avenue.

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Miami Police Sgt. Freddie Cruz told NBC 6, officers actually go to the buildings and advise management on how to make the garages more secure.

“In some of these buildings their maintenance fees have gone up because of low occupancy, so they’ve had to cut back on certain areas and some of it has been security,” Cruz said.

Cruz said officers have made progress in reducing the number of property crimes in the high rise garages.

But some residents say the sense of security is false.

That’s the case for Jo Anne Grady, Marshall's mother, who expected a higher level of security at her garage.

“It’s gates, it's secure, you’re supposed to have tags, do everything you’re supposed to. I know it’s Miami but I probably would have still had the bike if he would have parked it out here,” she said.

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