A worker died after suffering a “traumatic injury” at Bal Harbour Shops’ construction site, authorities confirmed.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to a medical call at about 11:45 a.m. Thursday near the 9800 block of Collins Avenue in Bal Harbour, removing the patient from a “confined space” on the second floor of the construction site. The patient was airlifted to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
The patient later died, according to Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
Bal Harbour police contacted the county sheriff at about 1 p.m. regarding the death, with Miami-Dade homicide bureau detectives taking over the investigation, according to the county sheriff’s office.
The deceased person has not been identified.
Bal Harbour Shops is a 500,000-square-foot luxury shopping center. Owner Whitman Family Development, led by Matthew Whitman Lazenby, is working on a 250,000-square-foot expansion with retail and dining space.
Bal Harbour Shops confirmed the incident, expressing its “deepest condolences … to the worker’s family, friends, and colleagues during this difficult time.”
“The safety and security of everyone at the shopping center is our highest priority, and the construction team will cooperate fully with the authorities as they conduct their investigation into the incident,” Bal Harbour Shops added in its statement.
The luxury shopping center’s expansion is expected to be completed this year, according to a Bal Harbour Shops news release from last year.
Whitman Lazenby’s late grandfather, Stanley Whitman, opened Bal Harbour Shops in 1965. In 2016, the Whitman family scored hard-fought approval for the expansion project that faced vehement opposition from residents and others in the community.
Separate from the retail and dining additions, Whitman also wants to develop a Live Local Act project at the shopping center with up to 275-foot tall towers with 528 apartments, a 70-key hotel, 46,000 square feet of retail and a private 200-member club. The project also has faced vehement opposition from town elected officials and some residents.
Live Local, a state law approved in 2023 and tweaked in the subsequent two years, allows developers to build bigger projects than a site’s zoning permits as long as they include apartments at workforce and affordable rents. Under the law, at least 40 percent of the units have to be for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income.
Accidents at South Florida construction sites have led to workers’ injuries and deaths in recent years.
In 2023, a 22-year-old worker died from blunt force trauma to the head at a spec home construction site at 1096 North Venetian Way in Miami Beach. The worker was fatally struck by a pulley system while hoisting buckets of cement to the second floor of the residential project.
Last year, three workers at Fort Partners’ Seaway at the Surf Club condo development site in Surfside were injured, with two suffering traumatic injuries. The 11-story project has 34 condos in the Seaway North and Seaway South buildings.
Also last year, a construction worker died after a portion of a tower crane collapsed at the Gables Riverwalk apartment construction site in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The site is at 333 North New River Drive East.
