FYI- Ritz Carlton South Beach

For anyone who has reservations to stay prior to or post cruise, just on the local news tonight that the damage from Irma was so bad that the Ritz Carlton will now not open until some time in 2018. No projected date as of yet.

Unfortunately 100 hourly workers have been let go, some after 16 years which is awful.

There is still a lot going on post Irma down in Florida and many people are still having lots of issues, especially in both Monroe and Collier Counties. It just gets lost these days with the awful tragedy going on in Puerto Rico.

Carolyn, thanks for sharing this. I had no idea it was hit so bad.

I have to say that Florida, Houston and so many others places are getting so little coverage now which is too bad as many people still need help.

Keith

Really surprised about the damage there. My office building, which is located right on Brickell Ave and on Biscayne Bay where the street was a 3-4 foot river opened less than a week after the storm. The entire parking garage was completely flooded. Electrical was shut down, elevator shafts flooded, everything, because the garage goes down under the building making it a great place for sea water to enter but no way to come out.

What happened there that there is so much damage?

Other than this Hotel and I have hear a few others, I have not noticed any issues at all to every day life. Well some of the pedestrian signals are still not back up. But that is it.

Really surprised about the damage there. My office building, which is located right on Brickell Ave and on Biscayne Bay where the street was a 3-4 foot river opened less than a week after the storm. The entire parking garage was completely flooded. Electrical was shut down, elevator shafts flooded, everything, because the garage goes down under the building making it a great place for sea water to enter but no way to come out.

 

What happened there that there is so much damage?

 

Other than this Hotel and I have hear a few others, I have not noticed any issues at all to every day life. Well some of the pedestrian signals are still not back up. But that is it.

The hotel got flooded from what I heard, hence significant damage. The storm surge can cause horrible problems.

The parking garage of your office was completely flooded but if it was only the parking garage, that can be cleaned up after a while. They pump the water out of the elevator shafts. I watched them pumping out the water from the Sabadell Building and the Conrad building.

Our condo building on Brickell (also where there was 4 foot flooding) had horrible flooding in our receiving area which is also below ground. They had to pump that out as well as the elevator shafts that go down there. Other buildings were not so lucky. Four Ambassadors had Biscayne Bay come right into the main floor and lobby.

While there are a lot of window damage to high-rises along Brickell, it's the water that can do much damage in the storms. That isn't easily fixed. Storm surge is brutal.

There is a bit more damage to the Brickell area than just the pedestrian signs being down. Some buildings are still dealing with lobby and elevator damage from water. I know of two friends who live in other buildings and they still have issues due to water.

It easy to start and see the window damage now since boards are starting to go up. I can see the SLS is missing the LS on the east side and they have boards up on some of their balconies where the glass is gone. The Four Seasons has around 120-130 broken windows, 1450 Brickell had window damage, our building has around 130 broken windows and sliding doors and some balconies are damaged. I can see quite a few buildings right around me that have damage looking both East, north and south. Since our windows are hurricane windows and there was so much damage in Houston and Florida, it will be quite a few more months before they are fixed.

The hotel got flooded from what I heard, hence significant damage. The storm surge can cause horrible problems.

 

The parking garage of your office was completely flooded but if it was only the parking garage, that can be cleaned up after a while. They pump the water out of the elevator shafts. I watched them pumping out the water from the Sabadell Building and the Conrad building.

Our condo building on Brickell (also where there was 4 foot flooding) had horrible flooding in our receiving area which is also below ground. They had to pump that out as well as the elevator shafts that go down there. Other buildings were not so lucky. Four Ambassadors had Biscayne Bay come right into the main floor and lobby.

 

While there are a lot of window damage to high-rises along Brickell, it's the water that can do much damage in the storms. That isn't easily fixed. Storm surge is brutal.

 

There is a bit more damage to the Brickell area than just the pedestrian signs being down. Some buildings are still dealing with lobby and elevator damage from water. I know of two friends who live in other buildings and they still have issues due to water.

 

It easy to start and see the window damage now since boards are starting to go up. I can see the SLS is missing the LS on the east side and they have boards up on some of their balconies where the glass is gone. The Four Seasons has around 120-130 broken windows, 1450 Brickell had window damage, our building has around 130 broken windows and sliding doors and some balconies are damaged. I can see quite a few buildings right around me that have damage looking both East, north and south. Since our windows are hurricane windows and there was so much damage in Houston and Florida, it will be quite a few more months before they are fixed.

My condo, in downtown has zero windows down, and the office building when I saw it the day after had 10-20 maybe. There really is a big difference in just a matter of blocks. I guess one issue is condos and buildings near construction where more debris was coming down.

My condo, in downtown has zero windows down, and the office building when I saw it the day after had 10-20 maybe. There really is a big difference in just a matter of blocks. I guess one issue is condos and buildings near construction where more debris was coming down.

It's that and the higher up the stronger the winds were. Most of the window damage is on the high floors facing East where there may have not been another building block any of the wind. I know some of our damage is from stuff flying from other other buildings and some from just the sheer wind.