Completion of Federal Probe Into Surfside Condo Collapse Delayed Until 2026

A long-awaited federal report on the causes of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse, which killed 98 people in 2021 and upended Florida condo regulations and market, will have to wait at least another year.

Officials with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, said in a presentation this month that its investigation has met with multiple delays and complications and won’t be completed until 2026, a year later than expected.

The issues include the fact that a member of the investigative team who examined below-ground conditions has left the team, the Miami Herald reported. Interviews with witnesses were paused around the June anniversary date, out of respect for families of the victims; and access to government records has been a struggle, NIST said, according to the newspaper.

Testing of concrete and structural connectors from the demolished high-rise building also has been a lengthy and challenging process, officials said, and involves simulation of corrosion over time.

Investigations into other major U.S. building failures have taken as much as six years to complete. More than $33 million has been spent on the Surfside investigation, the Herald noted.

The NIST presentation notes that the analysis is looking at more than 300 potential structural failure points; 20,000 records; and thousands of litigation documents. Some 1,080 structural material tests have been completed and more than 100 tests on soil, rock, foundation and groundwater samples have been finished or are still underway.

Photo: The rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo on June 25, 2021, in Surfside. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)