David Haber, Managing and Founding shareholder, Haber Law. Courtesy photo

Sunny Isles Beach's luxury Regalia condominium, where each unit takes up an entire floor and has floor-to-ceiling glass walls, needs $30 million in repairs due to construction and design defects, an attorney for residents said.

Problems include safety hazards like using the wrong or no screws for balcony railings and putting electrical grills meant only for indoor use on oversized balconies. Other issues include water leaks blamed on design and construction flaws and missing luxury finishes.

“It's a huge hazard,” Miami attorney David Haber, who is suing on behalf of the condo association, said of the barbecues issue.

Owners at the oceanfront tower have been informed of the safety hazards and temporary, emergency fixes have been made, said Haber, founder and managing shareholder with Haber Law.

It's “not a positive thing for an owner who has paid more than $5 million or $6 million for a unit, upwards of $10 million for a unit, that they can't go out on the balcony because the balcony railing system is dangerous,” he said.

The condo association for the 47-story, 39-unit Regalia at 19575 Collins Ave. has sued developer Regalia Beach Developers LLC and the architectural firm, Miami's Arquitectonica, as well as the general contractor and 22 other companies that worked on the project, including engineering, roofing and electrical contractors.

The 70-count complaint filed Nov. 6 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court lists counts of negligence against Regalia Beach Developers, Arquitectonica and the others, Florida Building Code violations and breach of implied warranties against the developer.

Regalia on the Ocean Condominium Association Inc. commissioned Miami's Pistorino & Alam Consulting Engineers Inc. to examine the building for possible defects, and Pistorino identified the issues in Nov. 1, 2016, and June 4, 2018, reports. It's routine to hire an expert to identify possible defects after an association takes control from a developer, Haber said.

“The ultimate goal is to have the developer be held responsible to either pay the $30 million to fix it or to fix it themselves properly pursuant to the building code,” Haber said. “It actually is fixable. It's just expensive.”

Guy Martin, the Regalia Beach Developers registered agent in state corporate records, called this a routine lawsuit commonly filed by condo associations under Florida Chapter 558, the state's construction defect law.

“There's nothing unusual about it. A condominium will claim against a developer for every item that they can find that they can consider to be a defect,” he said.

In most of these lawsuits, Martin said the claims turn out to be maintenance rather than construction issues, but he added he wasn't commenting on the merits of the Regalia claims.

One of the developer's managers is Gilberto Bomeny, who reportedly is part of the development team for One Thousand Museum Residences under construction in downtown Miami.

While the lawsuit lists a slew of defects, two are most egregious in the building with a twisty, asymmetrical design, Haber said.

Glass panels were not properly designed and installed to withstand strong winds, and some panels have a 1-inch opening, creating a whistling noise, Haber said.

“In fact recently, they had a glass panel fall 38 stories onto the pool deck, which of course was frightening for the owners,” Haber said.

Also, each unit has several sets of sliding-glass doors, but some allow water and wind to enter, damaging some units.

Leaks are aggravated by long, narrow aluminum panels that don't align with the glass, also allowing water leakage and wind into the units. In some parts of the garage, the ceiling height is lower than required, and at other places the garage wasn't designed to withstand the weight of SUVs, rendering parts of the garage unusable by some owners. The roof wasn't built with the required slope needed for drainage, allowing water to accumulate.

Haber filed the lawsuit along with Haber Law partner Frank Soto and Alan Kluger, a founding member of Kluger, Kaplan, Silverman, Katzen & Levine in Miami.

“You can imagine water leaking in during severe rains and the damage it's causing,” Haber said. “They have very expensive flooring, and they are getting damaged. They have expensive kitchens, they are getting damages.”