On Thursday evening, members of the Gardens on the Bay owners association gathered for an emergency meeting to discuss a harrowing reality: Everyone at the three-story, waterfront property at 6484 Indian Creek Dr. in Miami Beach is facing possible eviction.
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Gardens on the Bay at 6484 Indian Creek Drive in Miami Beach is pictured Friday, June 16, 2023. The building’s owner is threatening to evict more than 100 people, saying they have failed to maintain it. |
The building, a former motel known as Garden of Allah until 1984, is nestled between newly-renovated Brittany Bay Park and the sleek Shane Watersports Center. On a road replete with luxury condos, the nearly 70-year-old structure looks like a relic.
It operates much like
a co-op, with the land owned by a company that leases it to
an owners association under a long-term deal that expires in
2056. Each unit owner has a stake in the lease.
In its lawsuit, the landlord argues the individual unit
owners are “tenants” under the lease agreement and are each
responsible for maintaining the building, and therefore
should all be evicted for breaching the lease.
The owners association, represented by condo law firm Becker
& Poliakoff, disagrees.
The association — which receives maintenance fees from unit
owners and pays the landlord $65,000 per year — says it, not
the individual unit owners, is the tenant under the lease.
“Relying on this incomprehensible position, Owner has now
threatened eviction proceedings against the unit owners
within the Association,” the association said in a lawsuit
filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in February, after
Shaulson’s company sent an initial “notice of termination”
to the unit owners.