MIAMI — A Dubai-based developer has unveiled the details of an ultra-luxury project on the Surfside property where a building collapse in 2021 left 98 people dead and shattered a community.

In a press release, DAMAC said construction has begun on what it’s calling The Delmore, featuring 37 “mansions in the sky” starting at $15 million apiece, a “meditation garden” and the availability of “residential butlers.” The release makes no mention of the collapse.

On Tuesday morning, dozens of top Miami brokers were set to gather in Surfside to learn more about the condo project, which will be one of the most expensive in South Florida. The announcement comes with the launch of a website to promote sales and an estimated completion date of 2029.

The flashy launch didn’t sit well with some who were directly affected by the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South on June 24, 2021.

Martin Langesfeld, whose sister Nicole and brother-in-law Luis Sadovnic died in the collapse, told the Miami Herald it was “concerning to see this project marketed without acknowledging the collapse that killed 98 people.”

Langesfeld said the project shouldn’t begin until a federal investigation into what caused the collapse is finished.

“The focus must be on completing the investigation before allowing another development to proceed, while also ensuring a memorial is included to honor those we lost,” he said.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett, who was in office when the collapse occurred and elected again last year, said he had hoped the developer would find a sensitive way to honor the site’s history in its marketing.

“The challenge for the developer is to be honest and blend their efforts to do whatever they have to do with a deep respect for the history of that site,” Burkett said. “They’ve got a real opportunity to see the reality that’s right in front of them and take it head on and deal with it.”

In an interview Tuesday, DAMAC spokesperson Jeffery Rossely acknowledged that the firm chose not to mention the collapse in its marketing materials, saying the project “represents a closure to the past and a new beginning.”

“We’re not hiding anything,” he said. “You just don’t necessarily, when you’re doing a marketing campaign, put (the collapse) out there as a lead of the campaign.”

Still, Rossely said DAMAC is being transparent about the collapse with potential buyers and that details of the tragedy will be included in a “memento” book given to each buyer at closing that talks about the history of the site.

“I would not say anybody would recommend featuring it in your marketing,” he said. “At the same time, we would not hide it if there’s a question asked.”

Eliana Salzhauer, a former Surfside town commissioner who was in office when the collapse occurred, said it seems like the developers “hope that people forget anything happened there.”

“They can pull out all their bells and whistles and their nice, slick marketing materials,” Salzhauer said. “It doesn’t change the fact that their entire site is a graveyard.”

The Delmore is the first foray into United States real estate for DAMAC founder Hussain Sajwani, an Emirati billionaire and business partner of President Donald Trump who recently pledged $20 billion in investment in U.S. data centers.

Sajwani was the lone bidder for the 1.8-acre property at 8777 Collins Ave., paying $120 million that went toward a settlement for unit owners and victims’ relatives.

Langesfeld and other family members of the victims protested a judge’s decision to have the Champlain site auctioned off after the collapse, saying it should have been turned into a memorial.

After the sale, some family members pressed DAMAC to allow a memorial on part of the site, but the developer said that wasn’t feasible.

Surfside officials have designated part of an adjacent roadway, 88th Street, for a memorial that remains in the planning stages. DAMAC has pledged $1.5 million toward the effort.

Rossely said the memorial could possibly be built before the new condo tower is complete but that it would be “far cleaner and easier” to wait until 2029 to avoid disruptions from construction that will include hauling in sand to raise the dunes next to the property.

“There’s going to be a significant amount of disruption if one tries to do it earlier,” Rossely said.

DAMAC is marketing the 12-story condo project to uber-wealthy buyers, touting Surfside as part of a “billionaire’s triangle” created by Surfside, Indian Creek and Bal Harbour, while boasting that the building will be “directed by a Residence Manager and served by residential butlers.”

Renderings show a 75-foot swimming pool suspended 125 feet in the air at the top of the building. A 20,000-square-foot “outdoor meditation garden,” Tuesday’s press release says, “will be a quiet hideaway, marked by cascading reflective pools, open-air spaces for healing and yoga, a fire pit, and botanical gardens with a serenity path.”

A private restaurant exclusive to residents and their guests “will be an additional piece de resistance,” the release says.

The units, which will be fully furnished and average 7,000 square feet with four or five bedrooms, are being designed for “permanent residents,” according to the announcement. Rossely said potential buyers have already been “chasing us.”

“We know there’s a clear interest in the site and the opportunity it represents,” he said.

The Douglas Elliman firm will broker sales for the building. On a website promoting the condo, the firm says the average unit price will be $33 million.

“Simply put, this is a spectacular, transformative property,” Jay Phillip Parker, the CEO of Douglas Elliman’s Florida brokerage, said in a statement. “There is significant demand for a product of this magnitude, especially in South Florida where the one percent continue to acquire ultra-high-end properties. For the most discerning of purchasers, this is going to be the next great retreat.”

A federal investigation into what caused the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South is ongoing, with a report on the findings anticipated in 2026. Investigators have said there is “strong evidence” that the collapse began in the pool deck of the 12-story, L-shaped building, echoing the findings of a Miami Herald investigation that found the deck collapsed several minutes before half of the tower fell.

The town of Surfside and Miami-Dade County also commissioned their own investigations into the collapse that have not concluded.

Rossely said DAMAC hired experts to conduct extensive testing on the below-ground conditions at the site to ensure that it was safe to build there. The subsurface conditions were “actually better than we expected,” he said.

The collapse triggered a scramble to determine whether Florida’s coastal buildings were safe, followed by new legislation to mandate more frequent inspections and funding for structural fixes.

The requirements have put a financial strain on condo owners. Gov. Ron DeSantis called for a special legislative session to amend the condo safety law, but lawmakers dropped it from their special session agenda Monday.

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