Real Estate Development

October 10, 2022

Oscar Rivera Quoted in Sun Sentinel Article on Hurricane Ian Headlined: “Survivors’ Decision: Rebuild or Relocate?”

Oscar R. Rivera, our firm’s managing shareholder, was the first and the penultimate local business leader quoted in the Sun Sentinel‘s article on the repercussions of Hurricane Ian featured on the front page of today’s edition of the newspaper. The article, which is titled “Survivors’ Decision: Rebuild or Relocate?”, focuses on the consequences of the devastating storm for residents and business owners throughout the impacted areas. It reads:

Hurricane Ian gave southwest Floridians plenty of reasons to leave: It killed at least 115 people, crushed countless homes and businesses, turned area waterways into toxic soups and caused at least $50 to $65 billion in damages.

But as residents and business owners assess the devastation and reach for insurance policies that may or may not cover all of their losses, there appears to be an emerging consensus for rebuilding, and not relocating to areas perceived to be less vulnerable to catastrophic storms.

It is a mindset, analysts say, driven by a long-standing affinity for Gulf Coast living, a strong resolve among public and private sector interests, and a growing tolerance of devastating hurricanes as life disruptors.

“We have already been contacted by numerous clients and potential clients,” said Oscar Rivera, managing shareholder of the Siegfried Rivera law firm in Miami, which represents condominium owners, associations and commercial real estate investors. “Everyone we have spoken to is committed to rebuilding.”. . .

July 8, 2022

The Real Deal Covers Firm’s $6.4M Verdict Against Codina Partners Affiliate on Behalf of General Contractor

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

The Real Deal (www.therealdeal.com) chronicled the firm’s result in securing $6.4 million in damages from an affiliate of Codina Partners in a ruling that found the developer wrongfully terminated Grycon, the general contractor that built its 5350 Park condominium project in Downtown Doral. Stuart Sobel, the lead counsel for the contractor, was quoted in the article, which is a follow-up to the real estate news website’s first report on the case from August 2020. Today’s article reads:

. . . On Tuesday, following a non-jury trial, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge William Thomas ruled against 5350 Park LLC, the development entity managed by Codina Executive Chairman Armando Codina and the firm’s CEO Ana-Marie Codina Barlick. In 2020, Fort Lauderdale-based Grycon sued 5350 Park, alleging Codina Partners fired the general contractor without cause in order to avoid paying a final bill of $3.6 million. 5350 Park has a pending countersuit that was filed last year.

Coral Gables-based Codina will now have to pay nearly double what the developer allegedly owed, plus attorney fees and court costs, according to Thomas’ order. “The greater weight of the evidence establishes 5350’s termination of Grycon for cause was wrongful,” Thomas wrote.

“Judge Thomas ruled [Codina] didn’t have a right to terminate my client,” Grycon’s attorney Stuart Sobel said. “I don’t know what the real motivation is, but [Codina] has held off paying us a boatload of dough for almost three years now.”. . .

March 2, 2021

Article by Michael Clark in today’s Daily Business Review: “Certified Question to High Court: Do Original Arbitration Provisions Apply to Subsequent Homebuyers?”

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

An article authored by the firm’s B. Michael Clark, Jr. is featured as the expert guest commentary column in today’s edition of the Daily Business Review, South Florida’s exclusive business daily and official court newspaper. The article, which is titled “Certified Question to High Court: Do Original Arbitration Provisions Apply to Subsequent Homebuyers,” focuses on the contractual provisions prescribing arbitration as the means of dispute resolution for construction defect claims. These stipulations, which are used by developers for sales of their new homes, are probably known and understood by the initial buyers of newly built properties, but are subsequent buyers of these homes also subject to the arbitration provisions of the original warranty deeds? Michael writes that is the question that an appellate court has certified as one of great public importance for consideration by the Florida Supreme Court. His article reads:

. . . In Hayslip v. U.S. Home, the Hayslips appealed a nonfinal order granting U.S. Home Corp.’s motion to stay their claim and compel arbitration pursuant to the terms of the original special warranty deed for the property. As subsequent buyers of the home from the original owners, the Hayslips asserted they were not bound by the arbitration provision because it is not a covenant running with the land but rather a personal covenant binding only to the original purchasers.

The Second District Court of Appeal found a valid arbitration agreement existed and, as a restrictive covenant running with the land, the arbitration provision contained in the original special warranty deed bound the Hayslips to arbitrate as subsequent purchasers. The court affirmed the circuit court’s order compelling arbitration, but it certified a question of great public importance to the Florida Supreme Court as an issue of first impression.

August 26, 2019

Effective Hurricane Preparation Plans for Construction Sites: What Every Florida Developer, General Contractor and Community Association Should Consider During Hurricane Season

by Nicholas D. Siegfried

Nicholas D. Siegfried

At the height of the hurricane season, it is imperative for Florida’s developers, general contractors and community associations to have comprehensive storm preparation plans for their construction sites.

The best plans begin with continuous monitoring of storm fronts and threats. By keeping track of all the latest developments in the tropics, owners and builders can put their preparation plans into action with ample time to spare before conditions deteriorate.

When a storm begins developing and may impact a construction site, the most critical tasks for all jobsite personnel will be securing the onsite equipment, materials, tools, portolets, dumpsters, trash, etc. All equipment needs to be tied down or removed from the site. Cranes, fence screens, signage, utility systems and other elements will require special attention, and all hazardous chemicals, electronics and project documents should be removed from the site and construction trailers.

April 8, 2019

Article by Lindsey Thurswell Lehr and Susan Odess in Today’s Miami Herald: “Lawsuits by Condo Associations Against Neighboring Developers, Builders Are New Norm”

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

An article authored by shareholders Lindsey Thurswell Lehr and Susan C. Odess was featured as the “My View” guest commentary column in the Business Monday section of today’s Miami Herald. The article, which is titled “Lawsuits by Condo Associations Against Neighboring Developers, Builders Are New Norm,” focuses on the spate of recent lawsuits against South Florida condominium developers and general contractors alleging their construction work caused physical damage to neighboring condominium towers. Their article reads:

. . . This new litigation trend appears to have especially taken hold in South Florida, where several prominent condominium developers and contractors have been sued by adjacent associations for damages emanating from their construction sites. The lawsuits raise claims for structural damage, fallen stucco, splattered paint, excessive dirt, broken glass/windows, and other damage resulting from the construction practices of neighboring developments.

The insurer for the 1060 Brickell Condominium Towers brought a lawsuit alleging construction debris from Panorama, 1010 Brickell and the Bond damaged the two 1060 Brickell buildings. The lawsuit claims that the construction activities at these properties damaged 1060 Brickell’s facade, balconies, railings, pool deck, roof, cooling tower and other components.

The entire development team behind the ultra-luxe Porsche Design Tower faced a similar lawsuit brought by the association for the adjacent Millennium Condominium. The association alleged that its building suffered millions of dollars in damage caused by the Porsche Tower’s construction next door, including extensive cracks to the lobby, parking garage and pool deck. Engineers concluded that the cracks were caused by excessive vibrations from the pile-driving equipment used for the neighboring tower’s foundation, and the suit also alleged concrete overspray splattered onto Millennium’s balconies, ruining the building’s paint job and related exterior components.

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December 28, 2017

Stuart Sobel Quoted in Daily Business Review Article on Lawsuit by MiamiCentral Steel Contractor Against All Aboard Florida

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

The firm’s Stuart Sobel was quoted in an article in today’s Daily Business Review, South Florida’s exclusive business daily and official court newspaper, about a lawsuit by client ADF International, the steel contractor on Brightline’s downtown Miami train station. ADF was hired in 2016 by Suffolk Construction Co. Inc., the MiamiCentral general contractor, to work on Brightline’s private passenger rail station and one of the office buildings in the complex. The company claims it is owed $25.8 million for extra work blamed on on-site issues and incomplete and faulty plans. It is suing Suffolk Construction, project architect and engineer Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, and All Aboard Florida, which plans to run Brightline trains between Miami and Orlando and is building MiamiCentral along Northwest First Avenue between Third and Eighth streets.

November 13, 2017

Oscar Rivera Profiled in Today’s Daily Business Review

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

The firm’s Oscar R. Rivera was the subject of a profile article in today’s edition of the Daily Business Review, South Florida’s exclusive business daily and official court newspaper. The article, which is titled “Real Estate Attorney Oscar Rivera Traces Career Roots to Shredding Carbon Paper,” chronicles Oscar’s career in the law, which began when he was still in high school in the 1970s. It reads:

Oscar R. Rivera’s first job at a law firm required him to go through the office trash cans to find and shred the discarded carbon sheets used to make copies of legal documents.

That was in the 1970s, and Rivera was in high school and working at a Miami management-side labor law firm. His shredding was meant to prevent a pro-union law firm from dumpster-diving to read the flimsy purple sheets to gain insight into its opponent’s strategy, Rivera said.

“If you looked at the carbon paper against the light, you could read the letter,” he said.

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May 5, 2016

Firm’s Stuart Sobel Authors Article on Dispute Resolution Boards in May Issue of Construction Executive Magazine

by Siegfried Rivera

Siegfried Rivera

Firm shareholder Stuart Sobel authored a guest column that appeared in the May issue of Construction Executive magazine, one of the leading construction industry trade publications in the country. His article, which was titled “Dispute Review Boards: An ADR Technique That Works,” focused on the use of DRBs for major projects as an effective means to avoid or resolve disputes that may arise during construction. Stuart’s article reads:

Disputes are endemic to the collaborative nature of construction. It seems prudent to anticipate the disputes, even where the precise nature of the dispute is unknowable, and create a structure for proactively addressing and resolving them when they do arise. Traditional dispute resolution, whether arbitration or litigation, when invoked at the end of the project, takes place too late to save it or get it back on track. Instead, proactive onsite real-time dispute resolution is warranted to protect working relationships, cash flows and schedule progress.

Arbitration has become the preferred alternative dispute resolution forum for resolving construction disputes because it is private, streamlined and presided over by experienced construction professionals.

However, just as with litigation, arbitration only comes into play after a dispute has ripened. The arbitration process usually extracts a considerable toll on the project participants through damaged relationships and expenses. The parties involved are very unlikely to continue doing business together in the future. In addition, discovery in arbitration proceedings is now wider, longer and more expensive, and its growing resemblance to litigation has become unmistakable. Thus, despite its reputation as a cheaper alternative to litigation, arbitration has become more expensive as the process permits more litigation-like discovery, with attendant administrative costs and arbitrators’ fees.

Instead, consider the scenario where an independent person or board, respected by all project participants, is designated in the operative construction contracts to stay abreast of the design and construction and to attend and observe all pertinent meetings (owner/architect/contractor meetings, change order meetings and even important contractor/subcontractor meetings). Through this process, the dispute resolution neutral or, where there is more than one, the Dispute Resolution/Review Board (DRB), can quickly understand the nature and genesis of disputes that are blossoming — before they slow or stop the construction progress.

July 14, 2015

Appellate Ruling Reinforces Significance of Contractors’ Obligations Under the Florida Lien Law in Claims Against Construction Lenders

by B. Michael Clark, Jr.

B. Michael Clark, Jr.

In a recent appellate ruling with significant precedential implications for litigation by contractors against construction lenders in Florida, the court found that Florida’s Construction Lien Law bars common law remedies for contractors to sue lenders for work performed by the contractors and other lienors. The court affirmed the lower court’s summary judgment for a lender over a contractor’s claims stemming from a failed housing development.

The case of Jax Utilities Management, Inc. v. Hancock Bank involved contractor Jax Utilities, developer Plummer Creek, LLC and successor lender Hancock Bank. In 2009, after the developer suffered financial difficulties it failed to pay Jax. As a result of the developer’s financial difficulties, Hancock Bank obtained a final judgment of foreclosure against Plummer Creek and the project in September 2011. Subsequent to that, in December 2011, Jax filed a claim for breach of contract against Plummer Creek as well as claims for unjust enrichment, and it sought to impose an equitable lien against Hancock Bank.

The trial court issued a final judgment for Jax against Plummer Creek for more than $587,000, but it also granted a summary judgment to Hancock Bank finding that the contractor’s equitable lien claim was barred by the one-year statute of limitations which governs actions to enforce equitable liens. It also found that §713.3471 of Florida’s lien law precluded Jax’s common law remedies.

On appeal, Jax and Hancock disagreed as to when the statute of limitations began to run to enforce an equitable lien. Jax took the position that it did not begin to run until the bank had instituted foreclosure proceedings. The First District Court of Appeals disagreed, holding, “By its plain language, section 95.11(5)(b) requires that a claim for equitable lien be brought within one year of the last furnishing of labor, services, or material for the improvement of real property.”

The First District Court of Appeal also agreed with Hancock Bank’s arguments that the lien law precluded Jax’s common law claims for equitable lien and unjust enrichment. §713.3471 establishes the proper procedures for lenders to notify contractors if they decide to cease disbursing funds under a construction loan, and it also sets the damages for a bank’s failure to provide notice. The court concluded that:

Section 713.3471(2) expressly immunizes lenders who provide notice, prescribes the damages where notice is not provided, and states that the cause of action cannot become the basis for an equitable lien claim. Moreover, a common law claim would conflict with the statute. If a lender complies with the statute, it has no liability. If the lender fails to comply, a contractor may seek damages as prescribed by the statute.

The court also noted that its holding was reinforced by the lack of a provision preserving common law remedies in the statute.

For contractors such as Jax, which had apparently earned the funds that it was not paid, the court’s holding delivers a clear message that they cannot forgo their rights under the lien law in favor of common law claims against lenders. Even in cases in which a construction lender disregards the requirements under the lien law by not issuing the proper notice to the contractor when it decides to stop disbursing loan proceeds, the lender’s liability is delineated solely by the statute.

Our firm’s other construction law attorneys and I work very closely with contractors, subcontractors and other lienors to enable them to utilize all of their rights to recover the funds that they are owed. We write in this blog on a regular basis about important legal and business matters for the construction industry in Florida, and we encourage industry followers to submit their email address in the subscription box at the top right of the blog in order to automatically receive all of our future articles.

November 10, 2014

First-Time Florida Developers from Far and Wide Are behind Many of South Florida’s New Condo Developments

by B. Michael Clark, Jr.

B. Michael Clark, Jr.

Miami has a level of international appeal and prestige that is uniquely its own. Annual events such as the Miami Open tennis tournament and Art Basel lure jet-setters from across the globe, and it is largely due to these well-heeled visitors that the area’s market for new luxury condominiums has been able to bounce back as strong as it has in the last couple of years. Real estate investors who make their primary residences abroad have become the predominant class of buyers for many of the South Florida area’s new condominium developments.

The boom of international investors has had a tremendous effect on South Florida. Land that had once been untouched by most developers is now seeing a robust amount of activity. Nearly 300 towers are expected to be built within the tri-county area in the near future.

construction Many of these projects are being built by developers who are new to South Florida. We are now seeing scores of international or out-of-state developers who have never developed properties in Florida entering the market with high-profile new projects. New developers are coming in strong, but they must be wary of the obstacles that come with building condominiums and other large projects in Florida. Laws and business practices are not consistent from country to country or even state to state. Consequently, otherwise experienced developers who are new to Florida will be required to educate themselves with development in South Florida in order to maximize their chances of successfully completing their projects.

With the right team, development and construction of a project can be simplified, and obstacles by-passed. Our firm’s other attorneys who are board certified by The Florida Bar in construction law and I focus our practices solely on construction matters, and we offer developers as well as contractors, engineers, architects, subcontractors, suppliers and other industry members the experienced guidance and representation that can enable them to build successfully in Florida.