Renderings Revealed For Luxury Condos On Site Of Deadly Surfside Collapse

The Dubai-based owner that bought the site where the Champlain Tower South building collapsed in Surfside, Florida, has submitted plans for a luxury condo development to be built where 98 people were killed.

Damac International commissioned the Pritzker Prize-winning architecture firm Zaha Hadid Architects to design the property at 8777 Collins Ave. and has submitted a proposal asking the town of Surfside to approve a 12-story luxury condo plan for the site.

The developer submitted two design variations for the property that reflect different interpretations of the town’s planning ordinances, according to a release. One design has a uniform height, while the second design is stepped on its southern portion to reduce the building’s elevation. 

“We are honored to have been chosen for this very special project. While no work of architecture can ever remove the pain of the past, nor should it, a truly ambitious work of architecture can respect such a significant site,” Chris Lepine, a director at ZHA, said in a statement. “It’s a great responsibility to be providing this vision for Surfside.”

The proposed condo development would have 57 units ranging in size from 4,500 SF to 15K SF across a bifurcated design connected by a first-floor atrium and rooftop pool that stretches across the center of the building.

Niall McLoughlin, a spokesperson for Damac, said in a statement that Zaha Hadid Architects had “raised their own bar once more with these two design variations, expertly weaving together form and space to engage the senses, and create an unrivaled ultra-luxury experience and a true sense of place.”

Damac purchased the oceanfront property in July for $120M after it was the only developer to bid on the site as part of a court-administered auction. The sale followed the collapse of the tower in June 2021, which killed 98 people and spurred Miami-Dade County to tighten safety and inspection requirements at residential projects.

Proceeds from the sale are set to go to the families of those who died in the Champlain Towers collapse and residents who owned a condo at the building as part of a $1B settlement that was approved by a judge last June.

The proposal comes as many family members of collapse victims continue to push for a memorial at the site. During a contentious public meeting in September, victims’ family members asked Damac to cede some of the property to create space for the memorial. 

A Damac representative told attendees at the meeting that the company was willing to listen to families to understand what they’re seeking but said the firm had to “look after our shareholders’ interests,” The Real Deal reported.

The announcement of the project didn't include any mention of a memorial. A spokesperson for Damac, when asked if any memorial to the collapse victims would be incorporated into the project, responded via email that “the Town of Surfside has been working closely with the Memorial Committee and recently announced a permanent memorial will be placed on 88th Street.”

Damac was established by the in 2002 and has delivered approximately 43,000 homes across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, the Maldives, Canada and the United States. 

The developer did acknowledge that the site’s development would be impactful in Surfside, a town of around 5,600 residents just above Miami’s North Beach.

“We know we cannot replace what was so painfully lost,” McLoughlin said. “But it is our desire that the building honors and respects its location at the heart of Surfside’s community and offers a sense of closure to the tragic event of the past while also providing a sense of a new beginning.” 

ZHA was established in 1979 in London by the Iraqi-born Zaha Hadid, who went on to be the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004 before her death in 2016. The Surfside project would be the firm’s second major commission in Miami after it developed the 62-story One Thousand Museum condo tower in Downtown Miami, which began development in 2012 and opened in 2019.