Article
Courtesy of The South Florida Business Journal
By Brian
Bandell
Published March 14, 2016
A condo association lawsuit aims to halt the Apeiron
condominium and hotel project at the Jockey Club near North Miami.
On March 9, the two associations for the Jockey Club Condominiums I and II
filed a lawsuit against Apeiron Miami and the association of the third condo
building on the property. The complaint claims that the Apeiron development
plan would violate a 1977 settlement agreement between the 259 units in
condo buildings I and II, and the developer of the third condo building.
The Jockey Club I and II associations
are represented in the lawsuit by attorneys Glen H. Waldman,
Stephen Helfman and Alejandro Uribe Sevilla-Sacasa. Waldman
said that several longtime residents negotiated the 1977
deal.
Apeiron, managed by Muayad “Mo” Abbas and Michael Bedner,
owns about 13 acres of the 22-acre Jockey Club site at 11111
Biscayne Blvd. It plans to build 240 condo units in two
towers and 90 hotel rooms, in addition to expanding the
shared amenities with a wellness facility, tennis courts,
pools and a 38-slip marina. |
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The Apeiron at the Jockey Club would rise 40 stories
near North Miami.
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"A small group of residents with uncertain motives is
seeking to derail our development based on an old agreement, which is no
longer enforceable,” Abbas said. "We will continue to move forward with the
plan for Apeiron, which will enhance the entire Jockey Club grounds for all
surrounding residents.”
The developer has yet to launch condo sales or obtain county approval.
However, it obtained a $21 million loan in late 2015.
"It would be a terrible development because you would have increased
density, you would have three years of construction and increased traffic,"
Waldman said. "There is no win for the people in buildings I and II. It
won't increase the price of their units. It will probably decrease the price
of their units."
When asked about Apeiron's plans to redevelop the amenities at the Jockey
Club, Waldman said the existing tennis courts and pools are fine and the
wellness center wouldn't make a big difference to residents.
Apeiron paid $3.25 million in 2014 for the property. According to the
complaint, it inherited from the seller a 1977 settlement that restricted
additional residential development on the site. The developer of building
III promised the residents of building II that it would not seek to build
additional residential units without the permission of the association for
building II.
That agreement was recorded in county records. In addition, that lawsuit
cites a 1995 agreement among the associations of all three buildings that
said all covenants on the property would remain with the title to the land,
even if it’s sold. The 1995 deal granted residents of all three buildings
access to the common areas and the right to approve changes to the
development plan, according to the lawsuit.
The associations for buildings I and II said in the lawsuit that they don’t
support the construction of a hotel or more residential at the Jockey Club.
It also claimed that Apeiron agreed to pay the association for building III
about $10 million to support its project. The associations of buildings I
and II declined the developer’s offer of compensation for their support,
according to the lawsuit.
“Apeiron has taken the erroneous position that only Jockey Club III needs to
join the [development] application,” the lawsuit said. “Buildings I and II
and its residents will also be irreparably injured by any further
development on the Jockey Club property, as any additional development will
result in, among other things, excess density, traffic, construction,
reduced parking, hundred access to their homes and an overall disruption to
their quality of life, which each unit owner bargained for when [they]
purchased their respective units."
The lawsuit also claims that the Apeiron project would encroach on long-term
easements used by condo buildings I and II.
The complaint seeks a permanent injunction against Apeiron’s development
plan until the associations of all three buildings approve it.
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