Miami Landmark to Reopen After Inspection

Update: The historic courthouse in downtown Miami is scheduled to reopen Dec. 6, now that an inspection ordered after the Surfside condo building collapse has been completed. An outside firm, EXP, issued an engineering report last month saying it discovered no structural problems involving steel columns in the Dade County Courthouse's basement, which has had flooding. Once a city permit is issued, the AP reports, the courthouse will be back in business. Our original story from July follows:

A review ordered after the collapse of a Florida condo building has led to the evacuation of a downtown Miami landmark. Engineers assessing the structural integrity of the Miami-Dade County Courthouse "identified safety concerns with various floors," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava in a statement with other officials Friday night. The engineers' report recommended closing off the 16th floor and above in the 28-story building while repairs are made, CNN reports. "We know there have been problems in this building," Levine Cava said at a news conference Saturday at the site of the Surfside condo collapse. There's "support work that needed to be done," she said. As of Monday, the court will conduct business remotely; employees who had just returned to the building after the pandemic shutdown have already been told to work from home.

The collapse of Champlain Towers South last month, in which 86 people were confirmed to have died as of Saturday, led to inspections of other buildings in the area, as well as the evacuation of another condo tower nearby. At the courthouse, engineers reported that a column on the 25th floor of the courthouse needed "immediate attention," per the AP, and listed cracks and other issues. The report recommended taking heavy items such as books and sandbags stored on upper floors out of the courthouse. The county plans to sell the building, which was completed in 1928, after it builds another courthouse, per NBC. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (More Florida condo collapse stories.)