Property Markets Group sued the condo association at the Elser Hotel & Residences, marking the latest dispute between them over control of the downtown Miami condo-hotel.

Last week, an affiliate of Miami-based PMG sued 398 NE 5th Street Condominium Association, the property management firm RealManage and Steve Hardee, alleging the association has been running a fraudulent scheme to take unit owners’ fees that are owed to PMG.

PMG’s complaint was filed just days after the condo association sued the developer over the parking garage operations at the mixed-use tower, and months after the developer and the association settled a lawsuit.

PMG, led by Kevin Maloney, Ryan Shear and Dan Kaplan, completed the 49-story high-rise at 398 Northeast Fifth Street in 2022. The short-term rental friendly condo building has 646 units and was originally planned as rentals. It also includes a garage, office space and a church.

PMG claims the association has seized total control of the funds, leaving the developer unable to cover operating costs for the property’s commercial spaces. The lawsuit accuses Hardee, the board president, of instructing Highgate Hotels to not release roughly $773,000 in hotel management fees to the developer without written approval from the association.

The association and RealManage allegedly refused to invoice unit owners the correct amount of about $350,000 per quarter, instead billing the 2025 rate, according to the complaint. Through RealManage, the association has continued to send “confusing, deficient, and incomplete records” and “has never sent records showing what RealManage has actually collected” from each unit owner, the lawsuit alleges.

Attorneys for the condo association, RealManage and Hardee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The PMG affiliate notified the association on June 5 that it would be exercising its rights to collect assessments directly from the unit owners, which it states it is able to do under the condo declarations and the settlement.

On July 3, the condo association told unit owners to ignore a notice from Black Briar Management, PMG’s property management firm, directing owners to use its payment portal.

On July 24, the condo association sued the PMG affiliate, alleging breach of contract.

The association alleges that as part of the November 2025 settlement agreement, the developer received the right to all revenues generated by the parking garage, and that the developer agreed to install a license plate recognition system at its own expense and agreed to submit any parking operator to the association for approval. By hiring Metropolis to install the license plate recognition system, the PMG affiliate breached its agreement with the association, the condo association alleges.