Glen Waldman, who for 25 years served on Key Biscayne’s youth athletic boards, scored a major victory this month as an attorney representing condo owners who had been forced out of their residences.<\/p>\n
A group of 10 owners had sued to block the demolition of the 13-story, 192-unit waterfront Biscayne 21 condo tower<\/a> at 2121 N. Bayshore Drive<\/a> in Edgewater (three miles from Brickell), a building that had sat vacant for nearly three years and was once labeled by the Wall Street Journal as a \u201czombie on prime waterfront land.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jan. 12 ruling by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Thomas Rebull<\/a> orders Two Roads Development<\/a>, which began to strip away some of the 60-year-plus construction in order to replace it with a luxury condo, to restore the building to its May 2023 condition and bars the company from seeking a rezoning or demolition permit.<\/p>\n Waldman, who with his partner Jeffrey Lam at the national law firm Armstrong Teasdale, told reporters, “This is where a number of our clients wanted to live out the rest of their lives.”<\/p>\n He said that it would take a “very substantial” cost to do the repairs, but that it was “doable.”<\/p>\n “The ultimate goal is that we get our clients back in their homes,” Lam added.<\/p>\n Two Roads Development officials, according to the ruling, must reinstate utilities, services and common area maintenance at their own expense, with no additional cost to the unit owners.<\/p>\n Reportedly, Waldman and Lam plan to file an amended complaint that adds parties and claims to the litigation, including the developer’s lenders and former board members.<\/p>\n Two Roads had purchased the majority of units in 2022 for $150 million, then instituted changes to the association’s bylaws to lower the voting threshold for termination. That would have paved the way for a redevelopment by lowering the threshold from 100% to 80%. Then the building, built in 1964, was emptied and the utilities were shut off.<\/p>\n