At about 1:22 a.m. on June 24, 2021, the middle and eastern sections of Champlain Towers South, a twelve-storey beachfront condominium in Surfside, Florida, collapsed in seconds while most residents were asleep. Ninety-eight people were killed. The western part of the building, which remained standing, was demolished days later in the interest of safety. It was one of the deadliest building failures in American history.
The tower had been built in 1981, and its condition had been documented in detail. An engineering inspection carried out in 2018 for the building’s forty-year recertification found major structural deterioration: failed waterproofing beneath the pool deck was causing damaging water penetration, and concrete in the parking garage showed extensive cracking and spalling. The estimated cost of repairs rose steadily — past $15 million — while the condominium association debated the assessments needed to pay for them, and members of the board resigned amid the disputes. A line of credit was finally approved in April 2021, but the major structural work had barely begun when the building fell.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology investigated under the National Construction Safety Team Act. In technical findings released in June 2026, NIST concluded that the collapse had in fact begun weeks earlier, when two connections between garage columns and the pool deck failed in early June 2021; cracks then grew through the deck for nearly three weeks as loads shifted to connections too weak to carry them. The team found severe and widespread departures from the building codes of the day in the original design — in places, the structure had less than half the required strength — along with departures from the design during construction, loads added over the years, and decades of corrosion. In the words of the investigation’s co-lead, the building’s margins against failure were “too narrow from the start.”
A settlement of more than $1 billion for victims and families was approved in 2022, and the site has since been sold; a memorial to the 98 stands nearby. Florida rewrote its condominium safety law, requiring milestone structural inspections of older buildings statewide and mandatory reserves for structural repairs. NIST’s final report, with its recommendations for codes and standards, is still in preparation.