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Article
Courtesy of The Miami Herald By EMILY
VEITIA
Published July 1, 2007
Residents who have been battling to get extensive
repairs completed at their North Bay Village condominium won a victory in
court last week, when a judge placed oversight of the repairs in the hands
of a special master.
In a status conference Wednesday, Miami-Dade Circuit
Court Judge Ronald Friedman gave special master Ken Marlin the authority
to oversee all the repairs of the GrandView Palace Condominium. The
five-member board, controlled by the family-run development company that
bought the building in the early '90s and converted it to condos in 2003,
will no longer be involved.
The residents at the GrandView, a 532-unit, 25-story
building at 7601 E. Treasure Dr., have been engaged in a battle with
Charles C. Edwards and his son James Edwards, for several years. They have
complained about upgrades and minor repairs that were not completed.
The cost of that work ran into the hundreds of
thousands of dollars, according to one resident.
Among the needed repairs, according to some
residents: leaking windows, elevators that frequently break down, and
corroded electrical wiring on the pool decks.
In March the group sued the Edwards, whose
family-run development company owns about 90 units, to recover the money
spent in maintenance fees since 2003.
The judge's orders eliminated Christopher Spuches, a
developer-appointed member of the building's board of directors, from
being able to supervise any repairs.
''I will abide by whatever the judge's order says,''
Spuches said.
Friedman said that if the developers meddled with
the reparations or stalled repairs by refusing to sign checks, they or any
of their three representatives on the board would face contempt of court
charges -- and possible jail time.
''If you have problems with the board, I will see
you in the courthouse within 24 hours,'' he said to Marlin.
Residents said they were ready to move on after the
hearing.
''What we were expecting to happen happened,'' said
Todd Louis, who was among those leading the challenge of the Edwards.
''This
is a bittersweet victory because we had to get to this point to get the
developer to follow the law,'' added Soledad Slonsky.
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