Surfside marks 5 years since Champlain Towers South collapse

• The collapse of the 40-year-old condo building led to a federal safety investigation, a $1 billion court settlement and a flurry of new building safety laws.
• For families of the victims, it sparked a yearslong fight to build a memorial to their loved ones and to limit development on the collapse site.

The latest: Five years later, construction on the beachfront memorial has yet to begin — despite expectations that it would break ground earlier this year.

• Surfside leaders reduced the project budget by about $2 million, requiring the town to modify its scope, the Miami Herald reported.

Meanwhile, the developer planning luxury condominiums on the collapse site has been unable to sell a single unit over a year after launching sales, per the Wall Street Journal.

• Damac, the firm that paid $120 million for the site as part of a court-ordered sale to compensate victims, paused construction in February due to an insurance hang-up, the Journal reports.

Zoom in: The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which released the results of a technical investigation of the collapse Monday, found that the 13-story condo building had begun to fail weeks before the June 2021 collapse.

• Investigators found that connections between the building's garage columns and the pool deck started to fail around early June.
• They concluded that the building's design did not meet code and its construction did not follow the design, the Associated Press reports.

Honoring the 98: Surfside marked the anniversary with a torch lighting ceremony at 1:15am Wednesday — the time of the collapse.

• It will also hold a ceremony at 10am on 88th Street and Collins Avenue.