Article Courtesy of The
Miami Herald
By Rene Rodriguez
Published June 15, 2017
Developer D. R. Horton has reached an $11 million settlement with the Majorca
Isles Master Association, the Miami Gardens community that was left in the lurch
after the builder pulled the plug on the project during the recession.
Horton had appealed
the October 2016 decision made by a federal judge in Miami,
who ruled the Texas-based developer must pay $16.3 million
in damages for engaging in “immoral, unethical, oppressive,
and unscrupulous” trade practices “that offend established
public policy for its financial benefit, conspiracy, and
breaches of fiduciary duty.”
D.R. Horton, the largest residential developer in the U.S.,
began construction on Majorca Isles in 2005, near the
intersection of the Florida Turnpike and NW 215th Street.
The company said it intended to build 681 condos and
single-family homes. Plans also called for two swimming
pools and clubhouses.
But the developer pulled the plug on the project during the
recession after completing and selling 355 units at an
average price of $300,000 and ceased further construction.
In 2012, the Majorca Isles Master Association declared
bankruptcy, claiming Horton employees who had doubled as the
HOA’s board of directors had not collected fees from unit
owners, failed to keep proper financial records and cut
amenities that had been promised.
After a three-day trial in October, bankruptcy Judge A. Jay
Cristol issued a 52- page opinion concluding, “These actions
by D.R. Horton can only be classified somewhere between not
nice and evil.” |
|
Developer D.R. Horton has reached an $11 million
settlement with the homeowners association of the Majorca Isles
community in Miami Gardens.
|
D.R. Horton appealed the judgment and the parties reached the
$11 million settlement on July 7.
“The Majorca Isles community has been suffering since 2011,” said Barry Mukamal,
co-managing partner of the accounting firm KapilaMukamal, in a statement. “The
settlement completely rights the ship, provides to the homeowners all of the
resources to physically restore the community and establish the necessary
reserves ensuring the future viability of the Majorca Isles Master Association.
|