Construction site floods on a new high-rise condo in Brickell, raising concerns. NBC6’s Julie Leonardi reports.
The construction of a 47-floor luxury high-rise condo in Brickell has neighbors concerned about the safety of their buildings surrounding the site.
The construction site of Una Residences has already flooded and nearby residents are worried this project is risky for them and the environment.
"We are very concerned about becoming the next Surfside," said Christy Tasker, who lives in a condo on Southeast 25th Road that overlooks Biscayne Bay.
Tasker been keeping an eye on the progress next door for the last two years.
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"I think the building would be absolutely beautiful, but I think it’s extremely dangerous," she said.
Una Residences will also be home to the city’s deepest underground garage. And just this week, the aquifer below was breached and a massive amount of water flooded the space.
"Wednesday evening around 6 o'clock, the water just started coming out of the earth and it started to look like a pool," Tasker said.
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The general contractor of Una Residences confirmed the flooding in a statement to NBC 6.
"On Wednesday, October 20th, flooding took place on the Una Residences construction site due to intrusion from the water table. The flooding was quickly contained, and the remediation and dewatering process has already begun," the statement read.
Tasker says she’s worried about the deteriorating seawall that separates the construction site and the bay.
Miami City Commissioner Ken Russell visited the site last week and told NBC 6 in a statement: "The water quality of Biscayne Bay should not be negatively affected because of this incident at the Una Residences. Fortunately, it was detected early, and we have gotten ahead of it. DERM (Department of Environmental Resources Management) is already on-site and the next step is to dewater the hole. If the silted water does discharge into the bay, the environmental crimes ordinance that I passed will ensure that the construction site will be shut down."
But Tasker says she’s still not satisfied and feels like the project is an all-around risky undertaking.
"The whole portion of this land being flooded, collapsing, it is disintegrating the foundation of our building," she said.
