Memorial or high-rise? Future of condo collapse site argued
By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press
The fight over whether the site of June’s deadly Florida condominium collapse should be sold for development or turned into a memorial boiled over during an emotional court hearing. Some victims’ relatives begged Thursday for time to find a buyer who won’t put a new luxury high-rise at the side of Champlain Towers South in Surfside where 98 people died. They want to find a private party or government that will pay the $150 million for the beachfront lot and donate it for a memorial. But the judge overseeing the sale said his job is to get the most money for survivors and heirs and no one has stepped forward.