CBS News Miami<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe sprawling project has transformed parts of the beachfront property into a construction zone, with work stretching across multiple floors and the building\u2019s pool and patio area stripped down to a concrete platform.<\/p>\n
The Galleon\u2019s repair project has ballooned from $1.6 million to $36 million. Google Maps<\/p>\n
The five-year project has turned the oceanfront property into a construction zone. CBS Miami<\/p>\n
But even after years of work \u2014 and tens of millions of dollars in mounting costs \u2014 some homeowners say problems remain.<\/p>\n
Sergio Cella, a pilot and mechanical engineer who has lived at The Galleon for 30 years, told CBS Miami that workers have tried three separate times to repair cracking on his 14th-floor balcony.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality is not there,\u201d Cella told the outlet, describing the situation as \u201cdespicable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sergio Cella, a pilot and mechanical engineer, has lived at The Galleon for 30 years. CBS Miami<\/p>\n
Residents have raised concerns about the quality of the ongoing repairs. CBS Miami<\/p>\n
The contractor, Hartzell Construction, disputes the suggestion that it is responsible for the enormous increase in the project\u2019s price.<\/p>\n
The company said its original agreement covered a much more limited amount of structural restoration. As crews proceeded, the condo association expanded the scope through numerous change orders and additional contracts approved by the association. <\/p>\n
The result has been a dramatic escalation from what residents originally expected to pay.<\/p>\n
What began as an estimated $1.6 million job has now swelled to roughly $36 million \u2014 more than 22 times the initial figure.<\/p>\n
And that cost is being passed along to homeowners.<\/p>\n
Depending on the size of their units, residents are facing special assessments ranging from roughly $135,000 to more than $320,000, turning what began as a building-maintenance project into a potentially life-altering financial burden for some owners.<\/p>\n
Edward Rumin, an attorney and former Galleon board member, says the project \u201csnowballed.\u201d CBS Miami<\/p>\n
Restoration work stretches across multiple floors of the oceanfront condo. CBS Miami<\/p>\n
The escalating construction bill has also been accompanied by turmoil inside the condo association, including recalls, lawsuits and board resignations.<\/p>\n
Edward Rumin, an attorney and former member of The Galleon\u2019s board, said residents initially went along with the mounting assessments despite their concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t like the numbers, but we went along with them,\u201d Rumin told CBS.<\/p>\n
But eventually, he said, the project \u201cgot out of control and snowballed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rumin said he does not believe residents will ultimately recover the money they have poured into the project.<\/p>\n
Owners face assessments ranging from $135,000 to $320,000. CBS Miami<\/p>\n
The controversy has even reached the top of the condo board.<\/p>\n
When CBS Miami approached the association\u2019s then-president about residents\u2019 complaints, he dismissed the disgruntled owners as people who \u201ccan\u2019t afford to live on the ocean,\u201d before ending the call.<\/p>\n
But the president has since sold his own unit and resigned from the board, according to CBS \u2014 leaving the remaining homeowners to contend with the massive assessments and ongoing construction.<\/p>\n
The battle at The Galleon comes amid a much broader reckoning for Florida condo owners following the June 2021 collapse<\/a> of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, which killed 98 people.<\/p>\nThe sprawling restoration has dragged on for five years. CBS Miami<\/p>\n
The catastrophe led Florida lawmakers to tighten inspection and reserve requirements for older condominium buildings, forcing associations across the state to take a harder look at aging structures and the money they have available to repair them.<\/p>\n
For some condo owners, that has meant sharply higher association costs and special assessments as buildings confront expensive repairs that can no longer be postponed.<\/p>\n
At The Galleon, however, residents are questioning not merely the need for repairs but how the price tag grew so dramatically \u2014 and whether five years of work has delivered what they paid for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida condo owners are being slapped with staggering six-figure assessments after a building repair project initially priced at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[20221,2152,28,249,251,250,20222,16190,480,16021],"class_list":["post-421397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-condos","tag-development","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-luxury-development","tag-ocean","tag-real-estate","tag-renovations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}