A condominium on Biscayne Bay in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood will be terminated and vacated after a judge ruled in favor of a developer.

On Aug. 29, Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Rebull denied a motion by 10 plaintiffs, collectively representing eight units in the 191-unit Biscayne 21, to block the termination and vacating of the building. They were the only residents remaining in the 59-year-old condo, at 2121 N. Bayshore Drive, after West Palm Beach-based Two Roads Development purchased the rest of the units and moved to terminate the condo. The developer aims to replace Biscayne 21 with the Edition Residences, Miami Edgewater, a condo branded by Marriott International. The Edition would have 155 units, and the entire site is slated for 705 units in three phases. Two Roads Development, through affiliate TRD Biscayne LLC, acquired the majority of the condos in Biscayne 21 for $143 million in 2022. The price per unit was $795,812 – more than triple their market value at the time. On May 12, the 10 condo owners filed a lawsuit against TRD Biscayne and the Biscayne 21 Condo Association, seeking to block the termination of the condo. The association’s rules previously required a unanimous vote to terminate the condo, but after the developer purchased most of the units, the association voted to change the termination threshold to 80%.

The 55-story Edition Residences Miami Edgewater.

While Rebull didn’t dismiss the lawsuit, he denied the unit owners' motion for a temporary injunction to prevent them from being evicted and the condo from being terminated.

Miami-based attorney Glen Waldman, who represents the condo owners, said he’d appeal the ruling.

“We're glad the judge confirmed what we already knew: TRD Biscayne LLC is the sole owner of the building following the successful termination of the condominium in accordance with Florida law,” the developer stated.

On Aug. 15, TRD Biscayne sent the remaining Biscayne 21 unit owners a letter asking them to leave by Aug. 31 because it would no longer be “lawful, safe, or practical for us to continue operating the building.” The building is in need of significant deferred maintenance and the HVAC system has been malfunctioning. They brought portable chillers and generators, but that costs more than $100,000 a month and consumes more than 250 gallons of diesel fuel daily. The city warned the building owner it would be fined for a code violation because the chillers and generators make too much noise.

TRD Biscayne said it would shut down the chillers and generators, then ask FPL to cut power in common areas, and asked the residents to leave. The developer offered to pay for the remaining residents to stay in a nearby hotel through Dec. 15.

Attorney Josh Migdal, of Mark Migdal & Hayden, which isn’t involved in the case, said the holdout unit owners will receive the appraised value of their units, which is not based on what their former neighbors received when the developer bought them out.

“This will counter a common conception that, if you hold out, you will get a premium to what your neighbors who decided to sell received,” Migdal said.

Rebull's ruling shows that courts will be reluctant to allow an older condo that needs many expensive repairs to stave off a termination once a developer has purchased enough units to secure a termination vote, he said.

“The ruling is probably the first of many in this space,” Migdal said. “The law will be developed as it goes on appeal.”

Developers are looking to buy out and terminate many older condos in South Florida because there are few available development sites along the water.