1010 Central condo owners claim ‘defective’ construction,

sue builder

Article Courtesy of The St. Petersburg Blog
By Phil Ammann  

Published February 14, 2017

 

Condominium owners in downtown St. Petersburg are hopping mad over alleged “defective” construction of their complex, as well as a variety of building code violations.
 

The 1010 Central Condominium Association, a nonprofit corporation representing owners in the complex at 1010 Central Ave., are suing the project’s owners and general contractor for what they claim was failure to “employ good design engineering and construction practices.”

Defendants in the case, filed Feb. 3 in Pinellas County Circuit Court, are Georgia-based Batson-Cook of Tampa Inc. and MPI 1010 Central LLC.

In 2004, Miles Properties of Atlanta announced plans for a five-story mixed use condominium complex, featuring 112 one- and two-bedroom apartments and retail stores on the ground floor.

To develop the project, Miles created MPI 1010 Central. In 2010, Miles declared bankruptcy.


Batson-Cook was the general contractor on 1010 Central. Residents began occupying the units in 2007, and Batson-Cook went on to develop other projects in the Tampa Bay region.

As the owners’ representative, the Association claims many Central units have “defects and deficiencies,” first hidden from owners, who later found it would take large sums of money to fix.

While the Association is blaming both Mills Properties and Batson-Cook for alleged violations of building codes, court documents do not specify the problems at the now-decade-old building. They do say the issues were “hidden and/or concealed and were not discoverable by reasonable and customary inspection.”

Per the suit, Baston-Cook “breached implied warranties by failing in designing or constructing the buildings and the improvements, to comply with the requirements of applicable building codes, failing to design or construct in accordance with proper and approved construction plans and specifications, and failing to employ good design, engineering and construction practices.”

The Association is demanding a jury trial.

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