Mystery graffiti with grim message appears on abandoned SoBe tower

Someone is clearly a pessimist when it comes to sea-level rise in Miami Beach — and not a fan of the city’s wealthy residents.

South Beach residents woke up to a grim prediction painted in neat block letters across the top of the old abandoned South Shore Hospital: “YOUR MILLION DOLLAR HOUSES WILL SOON BE UNDERWATER.”

Stephen Cohen, a resident of the Icon Condominium tower across Fifth Street, snapped a photo of the message and posted it to Facebook around 10 a.m. Tuesday.

“Icon condo got a lil wake up message today,” he wrote, adding the social media hashtags #fsociety and #sobelife.

The property owner, developer Russell Galbut, had the message painted over within hours. He later told the Miami Herald he was upset with his security guards, who clearly missed the culprit.

“It was written neatly,” Galbut said. “He must have taken his time. He must’ve been up there for five hours. I don’t know how he got up there.”

Regarding the message itself, the developer laughed and said it was correct in pointing out that sea-level rise is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

“But we have great leadership in the Beach to deal this,” he said. “As long as we deal with it, Miami Beach won’t be underwater.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2016 at 7:10 PM with the headline "Mystery graffiti with grim message appears on abandoned SoBe tower."