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Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach
Post
By JEFF OSTROWSKI
Published September 5, 2009
BOCA RATON — The developer of the long-dormant
Eden Condominium used "deceptive and unfair" tactics to sell
units and owes damages to 27 condo owners, Florida Attorney General Bill
McCollum said today in a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.
McCollum's suit names as defendants Ceebraid-Signal
Corp. and its owners, Richard Schlesinger, Leslie Schlesinger, Adam
Schlesinger and Jason Schlesinger. It seeks unspecified damages, fines and
attorney fees.
From 2003 through 2006, Ceebraid-Signal sold condos
at the 204-unit project at 300 W. Palmetto Park Road and 301 S.W. First
St. in Boca Raton.
Ceebraid-Signal completed only two of the four
buildings it proposed and closed on only 27 units. Two of the complex's
buildings are hulking shells that have sat empty for years, and a posh
clubhouse, pool and garden were never completed.
"As a result of the defendants' deceptive acts
... consumers have suffered," McCollum's suit said. "The unit
owners have also suffered significant financial damage as their units are
unsalable and otherwise of minimal value."
Mark Bideau, an attorney for Ceebraid-Signal,
disputed McCollum's suit.
"We don't think the Attorney General's case has
any merit," Bideau said.
Bideau said Ceebraid-Signal plans to buy the 27
condos from their owners for the amount they paid and convert the project
into a high-end rental.
"When they get financing, it is absolutely
their intent to buy these people out," Bideau said. "Financing
is not easy to get right now."
One unit owner who asked not to be named was
skeptical of that promise, however.
"It's been a nightmare," the owner said of
dealing with Eden's developer.
Ceebraid-Signal also owns the recently opened Omphoy
Ocean Resort in Palm Beach.
Friday's suit was just the latest setback for the
company. It has been involved in a number of suits over the Eden project,
and long delays at the now-completed Brazilian Court project in Palm Beach
led town officials to threaten fines.
Ceebraid-Signal faces foreclosure actions against
its Holiday Isle Beach Resort and Marina in Islamorada and the 314-unit
Village Club Apartments in Palm Springs.
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