On paper, people who bought those units, own multi million $$$ apartments, but what's their market value, zero? Who would ever buy an apartment in that building?
Wouldn't be better to tear it down?
Hah, I'd buy one at a bargain basement price then insure it heavily if it wouldn't trigger a fraud alert...
I think at this point the building is way too heavy to ever fix and they should demolish it and cut the losses.
It happens all the time in China because of weak building codes.
Once a structure is compromised like this, there really is no sound way to salvage it in my experience, and it's a danger to the entire neighborhood, not only the occupants.
The bad part is that many of the occupants will suffer either way this goes... All insurance payouts should go to the unit buyers before any of the people involved in profiting get anything, but things never work that way. Attorneys will likely profit the most. The people responsible for the failed design and build should be blacklisted from future projects of this kind, that is where most injustice usually manifests in failures like this.
I'm guessing insurance payouts would involve lots of lawyers and lots of time.
Those sales don't strike me as especially bargain basement either. 2BR, 1500 sq ft for about $1.5m. Maybe without the issues, as a premium property, it would be higher but those prices don't seem out of line with condos on the market.
> The people responsible for the failed design and build should be blacklisted from future projects of this kind, that is where most injustice usually manifests in failures like this.
...no, they should be jailed, likely for life, because they knew exactly what they were doing.
Capitalism apologists prove they know no bounds, time and time again. Really exited to get to watch the incoming century of collapsing skyscrapers because of skirted regulations. Deaths will pile high and no consequences will be had.
I had two friends who were both skyscraper architects who rented there for several years. The average person just doesn’t have a good grasp on the actual risks, but they certainly did. They wouldn’t buy a unit there due to the uncertainty in cost for the repairs but it’s plenty safe.
Just wait until the HOA gives them a massive "Special Assessment" for the urgent repairs while the true liabilities get tied up in the courts for decades. No thanks!
One of them actually sold AFTER the Miami collapse. I would think that after seeing the hubris fail elsewhere it would make people second guess a huge purchase like that. It was probably a long escrow and figured they should just close anyway - it won't happen to me, not in this leaning tower in a quake prone area.
It's actually a very low risk investment. The HOA is suing the city, blaming the construction of the Transbay terminal next door. They have access to some serious attorneys, so if the building falls down they'll still profit.
Could be a fun exercise to look at the property records over time to see which financial institutions are publicly recording mortgages on these units to understand their risk tolerance.
For the right price I am sure they would be bought, especially if someone (probably an investment group) is trying to profit long term assuming the building is "fixable" whatever that may mean.
