A Florida state court judge has ordered a developer to restore a Miami waterfront condominium to a habitable state after it was gutted during a yearslong legal battle.

In a Jan. 12 order, Miami-Dade Judge Thomas Rebull sided with eight residents who sued to block the sale of the Biscayne 21 condo building, directing the defendants -- Two Roads Development and its affiliated entities -- to restore the apartment tower and the plaintiffs' units "to the condition they were in at the time the complaint was filed in May 2023," according to a court filing obtained by Realtor.comŽ.

Attorney Glen H. Waldman, with the law firm Armstrong Teasdale, who represents the holdout condo owners, says that engineers who recently assessed the building found that the structure remains sound and can be restored, but it is expected to cost the developer a "substantial" sum.

"But they should never have gone ahead and got over their skis like they did before they had absolute certainty that they had a right to do what they did," Waldman tells Realtor.com.

Besides fully rehabilitating the building to make it livable again and restoring plumbing and electrical wiring to allow utility services to resume -- all at Two Roads' expense without any financial contribution from the residents -- the developer is barred from terminating the condominium, or seeking any zoning approval or demolition permits.

A Florida judge ordered that a developer must restore the Biscayne 21 condominium in Miami, FL, to a habitable state.

 

"The outside windows are gone, there is no air -conditioning system for the building. ... I mean, everything's gone," says Waldman. "They have to pretty much rebuild the building. ... It's a skeleton."

 

Realtor.com reached out to attorney Susan Raffanello, who represents Two Roads Development, for comment.

Rebull's order comes three months after the Florida Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal filed by the developer, allowing a July 2025 ruling by the Third District Court of Appeal that sided with Biscayne 21's owners opposing the building's demolition to stand.

How the Biscayne 21 saga started

Built in 1964, the 13-floor, 192-unit Biscayne 21, located at 2121 North Bayshore Drive, features tennis courts, a pool, a barbecue area, parking, and most significantly, more than 830 feet of water frontage overlooking Biscayne Bay, the Port of Miami, and Miami Beach.

In 2022, Two Roads Development began purchasing units in the building with the goal of dissolving the condominium, demolishing the aging tower, and replacing it with a luxury apartment complex.

However, despite being pressured by the developer and real estate agents to sell, eight owners -- Angelica Avila, Nicolas Bello, Maria Beatriz Gutierrez, Franah Vazir-Marino, Robert Murphy, George Garcia, Lazaro and Jacqueline S. Fraga, and Jeffrey and Shari Ulman—would not budge.

Waldman previously told Realtor.com that his clients were reluctant to sell in part because the compensation Two Roads was offering them was below what they would have needed to buy comparable properties with waterfront views.

The developer's fatal stumbling block was that Biscayne 21's condo rules, known as a declaration, required 100% of owners to approve the condo's termination -- a threshold that could not be met because of the dissenters.

According to a lawsuit filed by Waldman on behalf of the holdouts in 2023, determined to go forward with the redevelopment project, Two Roads took over the condo board and illegally altered the language of the declaration, lowering the termination requirement from unanimous consent to 80% of owners.

A lower court initially sided with the developer, prompting it to begin stripping the building in preparation for demolition, even as Waldman filed an appeal with a higher court, which ultimately found in his clients’ favor.

In a July 2025 opinion, the Third District Court of Appeal ruled that the trial court "erred" in failing to recognize that the developer violated the voting rights of unit owners who refused to sell.

What's next for the fixer-upper condo?

Monday's court order does not set a deadline for Two Roads to restore Biscayne 21 to its former livable condition, but it does mandate that repair work on the building, which currently has no windows or an air-conditioning system, begin within 30 days.

Additionally, the developer must provide status updates on the progress to the condo association and the court every 45 days.

"They have an obligation to get started right away, and they're expected to do it," notes Waldman. "And we're going to hold their feet to the fire every step of the way."

The plaintiffs' attorney adds that his clients are excited about the prospect of regaining their homes after all these years, and he is optimistic that, "one way or another," they will be made whole.

"My clients never wanted to leave this building," says Waldman. "They had every intention of living the rest of their lives there. So when they were ceremoniously kicked out with really no basis at law to do it, obviously, it was terrible. It was decimating to them."