A private bidder has made a $120 million offer to purchase the beachfront land where the ill-fated Champlain Towers South building stood before the deadly destruction on June 24 which killed 98 people.
The new mysterious bid was revealed Wednesday morning during the latest court hearing regarding the onslaught of lawsuits over deadly building collapse.
Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, who is overseeing dozens of lawsuits regarding the deadly devastation, has been pushing for the sale of the property to compensate victims of the tragedy.
He authorized the negotiation of an agreement with the undisclosed bidder to happen as 'quickly as possible' to begin a 'short auction process', according to the Miami Herald.
Michael Faye, the appointed real-estate broker, informed Hanzman that he had a received a 'letter of interest' from an unnamed bidder offering $110 million for the site saying that 'They're willing to go to a $120 million.'
During Wednesday's court hearing, the real-estate broker appointed to sell the Champlain Towers property revealed that an unnamed bidder has offered to purchase the land for $120 million
Judge Michael Hanzman approved the broker to continue negotiations with the private bidder which would begin the bidding allowing other companies to join in the auction
The city of Miami currently has 2,439 buildings on its unsafe structure list
Court records show that the property could be worth $100 million to $110 million.
'That's the best news I've heard so far today,' Hanzman exclaimed. 'They're a viable company that has the wherewithal to close on a transaction of this magnitude?'
'We do believe that to be true,' Faye confirmed.
The court has been searching for a stalking-horse bidder meaning the undisclosed bidder would not automatically get the property but will begin the process for an auction in which other developers could bid for the land.
Hanzman made it clear, 'I want to compensate these victims as soon as possible.'
The land where the Champlain Towers once stood is technically owned by the condo's Home Owners Association.
After the devastation at 8777 Collins Avenue, the court created a receivership to take over control of the Champlain Towers HOA. The receiver is 'placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights.'
All of the assets accumulated between the victims or owners will be divested from the HOA and goes into a trust which the receiver will work to collect and then dispense between the owners or beneficiaries of the 136 units.
A timeline of the tragic Surfside building collapse that left nearly 100 people dead, including Miami-Dade fireman Enrique Arango's 7-year-old daughter Estella
The money earned from the sell of the property will be added to a trust which will be dispensed to the victims or owners of the collapsed beachfront condos
'The losses here are staggering. Loss of life. Loss of property. The losses add up quickly to establish the financial toll' of the devastation, Brad Sohn one of the plaintiffs' court appointed attorneys told DailyMail.com.
Regarding what to do with the property, Sohn said, 'Everybody in the case has recognized the deeply personal loss involved and that there will be opinions in different directions.' But recognized that it is up to the court to decide.
What will become of the seaside Collins Avenue property has been a point of contention between the government, lawyers, survivors, and loved ones of those 98 who perished.
During a news briefing last month, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava said that stakeholders wanted to do 'something different' to commemorate the lives lost. 'I think for most of us, we don't want to have it be business as usual...and certainly discussions have begun how that could happen,' the mayor said.
But Manny Kadre, a lawyer who is serving as a liaison between the court and elected officials including Levine-Cava, told the Herald that it appears 'very highly unlikely' that any government agency would buy the land.
Kadre stated that there is a valid possibility that the government could step in to help forgive mortgages, create a victims compensation fund, or help with creating a memorial on the site or nearby but says that 'The property being monetized by government is a very, very unlikely scenario.'
Rescue and recovery workers had spent nearly four weeks combing through and removing the rubble of the building. It is pictured on June 24 the day of its collapse
Construction lights surround the area of land where the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South building stood in Surfside, Florida
Survivors have been divided on what to do with the land. Several condo owners have asked Hanzman to allow a developer to rebuild homes on the land because they want to keep living there, others want the site to become a memorial to the tragedy that happened on June 24, and some want both. Last month survivors began to express their opinions on what should become of the land in court.
Oren Cytrynbaum, who bought a condo unit at Champlain Towers South years ago said 'It's an opportunity to live in an area like that that doesn't come around very often and to replace it now for a lot of these owners will be almost mission impossible, considering where home prices are, especially beachfront property,' according to the Miami New Times.
He elaborated, 'I mean, that was taken away from a lot of people and that's why a lot of people feel they would like their home back.'
But another resident speaking in court had a differing opinion saying, 'That is a gravesite. I left that in my mind that evening saying that is a gravesite,' she said. 'I saw with my two eyes the pancake. I opened the stairwell door and I heard a woman crying for help that I couldn't help in pitch darkness.'
While several dozens of individual lawsuits have been brought forward regarding the building's collapse, Judge Hanzman has begun by pooling together the cases and appointing 12 law firms to run litigation proceedings to first discern fault and culpability of the disaster and establish the receivership.
Once these first steps have been completed, individual lawsuits will be heard.
Two months since the Champlain Towers South partially collapsed, the site shown above is mostly cleared and debris has been relocated to a different site
Twisted pieces of metal bars protrude from the remains of walls in the area of land block stood
As the courts work to decipher who will be held responsible for one the deadliest building collapses in the country's history, several other buildings in Miami have been evacuated after being deemed 'unsafe structures.'
Miami Dade County officials are inspecting 501 buildings - every one in their jurisdiction that is 40 years or older- to make sure none are compromised like the Champlain Towers. There is currently no state law in Florida that requires high rise buildings to be inspected regularly.
On Monday, hundreds of residents of an eight-story unit were told to evacuate by 8 am the next morning. The building was first placed on the unsafe structure list back in May and was ordered to undergo repairs.
Karla Fortuny, Chief of Staff and Communication for Miami's City Commissioner, told WSVN that the city will provide housing for the families until the issues are fixed although it remains unknown how long that will be. But shifted the blame from the city of Miami saying, 'The city had been working with the engineer for this building for weeks now, and they had given specific instructions on what to do in the building. Unfortunately, those instructions were not followed.'
The city of Miami currently has 2,439 buildings on its unsafe structure list, according to city data. While the Champlain Towers site is part of Miami-Dade County it is not part of the city of Miami.
The cause of the Champlain Tower South collapse has not yet been determined.
There is no evidence to suggest that as the original architect for the Champlain Towers South, Friedman's design, completed in 1980, had anything to do with its collapse.
However, the background information could provide a useful element for investigators still attempting to discover what led to the fall of the tower block.
So far, that has been one indicator of a 'major error' that was discovered in the original plans for the building which were prepared by Friedman and the project engineer.
A 2018 engineering report on the 12-story condo suggests a concrete slab in one part of the building had not been placed at a slope to allow water to drain.
'The question comes down to: Was it a design error or deferred maintenance that was the approximate cause for the collapse?' said Frank Schnidman, retired urban planning professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
