Dezer slapped with suit from neighboring Sunny Isles condo alleging major damages from construction
The Real Deal
By Sean Stewart-Muniz
10 October 2016
The 60-story Porsche Design Tower, and the 34-story Millennium condo building to its immediate left. (Inset: Gil Dezer)
Though his ultra-luxe Porsche Design Tower is all but completed,
developer Gil Dezer may have to keep his champagne corked until he
resolves a lawsuit filed by the condo tower’s fed-up neighbors.
Dezer’s firm and his entire development team — from the general
contractor to the engineers — were just sued in Miami-Dade Circuit
Court by the Millenium condo association in Sunny Isles Beach. The suit
alleges that the building suffered millions of dollars in damages as a
result of the Porsche tower’s construction next door.
The dispute, according to Millenium’s complaint, began in 2013 when
Porsche’s development team began installing foundation sheet pilings
for the tower’s development site at 18555 Collins Avenue. Not long
afterward, cracks began appearing next door in the 34-story Millenium’s
lobby, parking garage and pool deck.
So the Millenium condo association hired Khaled Sobhan and D.V. Reddy,
a pair of engineering professors from Florida Atlantic University, to
get to the bottom of the damages.
According to their report, attached to Millenium’s suit, the cracks
were caused by excessive vibrations from construction equipment driving
the Porsche Design Tower’s sheet pilings.
The suit alleges the damages didn’t stop once Porsche’s foundations
were set. According to the complaint, as the 60-story tower’s floors
were poured, concrete overspray splashed over onto the Millenium’s
south facade, falling onto balconies and splotching the building’s
paint job.
Keith Silverstein, the attorney representing Millenium’s condo
association, told The Real Deal that damages valued at $4 million have
been identified so far. Repainting and resurfacing the building will
cost $1 million, he said.
The association had been in talks with Dezer for roughly 18 months without much progress, he said.
Dezer declined comment for this article through a spokesperson. The
132-unit Porsche tower, which gained notoriety for its over-the-top car
elevator dubbed the Dezervator, is expected to be delivered this fall.
“We felt it prudent in light of the lack of transparency on the part of
the contractor and developer to name all the parties so we can
determine the truth of the responsibility,” Silverstein said. Charges
range from negligence to violations of state building code, and the
plaintiffs are reserving the right to sue for punitive damages in the
future.
Plaintiffs in the suit include: Dezer Development, Dezer’s affiliate
18555 Developers LLC, the Porsche tower’s condo association, Coastal
Construction of South Florida, both Sieger Suarez Architects and the
Sieger Suarez Architectural Partnership, HJ Foundation Company,
engineering firm NV5 Global and NV5 Holdings, Pistorino & Alam
Consulting Engineers, and CHM Structural Engineers.
“In order for Dezer and Coastal to make this right,” Silverstein said,
“they would need to return the Millenium to its preconstruction
condition, to the extent possible. “
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