Condo deal fallout is stormy for Seashore Club unit owners

Unit owners' tempers flare after a deal to purchase

the Seashore Club South Condominium falls through.

Article Courtesy of The Miami Herald

By WENDY J. MENGA

Published 11-09-2006

A sweet property deal goes sour and causes enraged unit owners to pass an amendment to limit the number of condos one individual can own.

On Aug. 25, a $441,000-per-unit deal to purchase the 172-unit Seashore Club South in Sunny Isles Beach fell through.

For more than a year, association attorney César Sordo had negotiated the deal with Property Marketing Group, a New York-based real estate investment company. The contract with PMG was contingent on a total unit buyout and an Aug. 14 deadline, Sordo said.

The deadline came and went.

During a Sept. 28 meeting, Sordo informed owners that PMG offered Richard Meruelo $7.3 million for his 10 units, almost $300,000 more per unit than the negotiated rate everyone else was getting, just to keep the sale on the table, and Meruelo refused to sell.

Once Meruelo declined to sell, the buyers walked away.

Not fair, unit owner David Ferleger said. ``Why was I never informed that one person was getting more money per unit than the other unit owners?''

Owners at Seashore Club are now left to figure out how to move forward at the condo that was damaged by Hurricane Wilma, and still needs repairs. When Wilma left the former mom-and-pop-hotel-turned-condo looking like it was abandoned, some owners wanted out. Others, particularly elderly residents, wanted to stay. Although some repairs have been made, blue tarps and boarded windows remain.

Negotiating side deals aside, condo owners want to avoid one owner being able to make or break deals in the future. Owners adopted an amendment to the association's documents that limits ownership to no more than three units per person. With 86 votes required to pass the amendment, the vote was 92 in favor and 14 against.

According to Seashore board secretary Alina Feldman who helped tally the votes, Meruelo attended the meeting with a personal bodyguard, sat in the back row and kept a low profile. Meruelo was unavailable for comment.

Owners like Nestor Gil blame their woes on ``the Meruelo problem.''

''Meruelo is holding us hostage,'' Gil said.

Others blame Seashore's property manager Murray Rose for allowing 10 units to be sold to the same person. Rose admitted to signing off on five of Meruelo's units but denied signing off on the others.

''It was strictly an administrative procedure. I felt I was not doing anything out of the ordinary,'' Rose said.

Feldman fears that since the deal with PMG has fallen through, the city of Sunny Isles may condemn the building and buy owners out for a minimal fee. ''The city really does not want us here; they prefer the large new condos,'' Feldman said.

According to Clayton Parker, a building official/administrator in the city of Sunny Isles Beach, Feldman's fears are unfounded. The city has no plans to condemn the Seashore Club at this time, Parker said.

Unit owner Ginny Nissenbaum loves living at the Seashore but has her concerns about the condo's future.

''It's tough being a small fish in a big pond when the sharks smell blood. We only wanted a little place on the beach,'' she said.

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