A Florida judge has blocked a developer from demolishing and rebuilding the Biscayne 21 condominium complex in Miami.
Greg Allen, NPR
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Greg Allen, NPR
Three years later House collapses in Florida98 deaths, new restrictions cause sharp rise Rising apartment living costsRising costs are driving residents of dilapidated buildings to sell their properties to developers vying to replace them with new luxury high-rises.
In Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood, many old buildings are being demolished and replaced with gleaming new high-rise apartment buildings, but one old building sits vacant in prime real estate on the neighborhood’s waterfront.
“If you look at the upper floors, you can see that a lot of the windows and doors have already been taken out,” said Jacqueline Fraga, who owns one of the currently vacant units at Biscayne 21 Apartments. All but a handful of the 192-unit building have been bought by a developer who wants to demolish it and build a bigger, fancier building in its place.
Mr. Fraga was among a group of property owners who sued the developers just before demolition began. The 13-story building offers spectacular views across the blue waters of Biscayne Bay to Miami Beach. “Why do you think anyone wants it so badly?” he says, laughing.
Jacqueline Fraga is one of 10 unit owners who have refused to sell their condominiums to Two Roads Development.
Greg Allen, NPR
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Greg Allen, NPR
Over the past 20 years, A wave of apartment construction Miami has been reshaped. Its once sleepy downtown is now bustling with residential buildings, thriving restaurants and retail complexes. With most of the waterfront land already finished, developers are targeting older buildings in particularly good locations.
Fraga says real estate agents started calling her several years ago asking if she would sell her house, and her answer was always the same: “I’m not going to sell it. I said, ‘I came to this building in my wedding dress, and I’m going to retire in this building.'”
Other owners sold due to pressure from real estate agents. Two Roads Development The company eventually bought all but 10 of the units in the building, took over the condominium association’s board of directors, voted to change the management rules, approved the dissolution of the building, and authorized its demolition.
Many of Florida’s older condominiums, including Biscayne 21, require the approval of all unit owners in the building to terminate leases. A Florida appeals court ruled that by lowering this to 80%, developers had violated unit owners’ voting rights, making condominium terminations illegal.
The ruling has broad implications for developers looking to use old apartment buildings for new projects. Attorney Susan Raffanello, who represents Two Roads Development, said, “From my client’s perspective and other developers across Florida, they’re really taking a step back and considering whether or not to go forward with redeveloping the properties when they’re approached by these old, ailing apartment buildings.”
Regulations enacted in Florida after the Champlain Towers apartment building collapsed in 2021 have encouraged developers to buy up and replace older residential buildings. New Rules This will increase costs for occupants of many older buildings, sometimes resulting in large special assessments that may be difficult to pay.
Glenn Waldman, an attorney representing Fraga and other unit owners, said that wasn’t the case at Biscayne 21, which was built in 1964. “Although it’s old, it’s not the kind of building that has had life safety issues. It’s a strong, sound building. It has passed all the required tests and will continue to pass them.”
Lawyers for the developers are asking the appeals court to review the case and, if necessary, plan to go to the state Supreme Court. Raffanello says that if the ruling stands, it will make it much harder to replace old homes. “This ruling puts one person in control of the will of the entire community,” he says. “And that’s something no developer wants.”
Condo regulation is an issue Florida lawmakers have debated before and is likely to come up again in next year’s legislative session. Republican Rep. Vicki Lopez, whose district includes Biscayne 21, thinks the state should make it easier for developers to replace old apartment buildings.
She serves 667 condo associations in her district and says she understands that many unit owners are struggling with rising costs. “If you’ve lived in a building for a long time and it happens to be on a beautiful piece of land, you don’t want to leave, but the building is 60 years old,” she says. “Now people are questioning whether it’s even affordable to live in a condo anymore.”
The Biscayne 21 incident has cast further uncertainty over Florida’s condo market, where three-quarters of the buildings are more than 30 years old. Sales have slowed statewide amid concerns about new state regulations and the rising cost of living in condominiums. Price drop.
