6801 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach. Credit: Google

A high-end Miami Beach hotel-condominium and its insurance company might be headed to trial over a $16.7 million claim for damage and losses blamed on Hurricane Irma over two years ago.

The one-count breach of policy lawsuit filed by the Carillon Miami Wellness Resort owner said Boston-based Lexington Insurance Co. hasn't paid or sent a determination of coverage. The case was transferred Wednesday to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court complex business litigation division.

Lexington blames some of the damage on building design and construction defects unrelated to the storm plus normal wear and tear, according to the insurer's answer and affirmative defenses filed last September. Lexington didn't dispute its lack of payment but denied it hasn't provided a determination of coverage.

The oceanfront Carillon at 6801 Collins Ave. in the North Beach neighborhood is a hotel-condo comprised of the original 1950s-built Carillon Hotel designed by Norman Giller, one of the pioneers of the Miami Modern architectural style. It's flanked by a two-building north tower and another building on the south. They are newer all-condo buildings. The original building is primarily a hotel with some condos.

Carillon Hotel LLC, which is suing, owns 65 of the hotel rooms, and another 50 are owned by others. It's an affiliate of Illinois-based investment firm Z Capital Group LLC and owns the facades and other common areas of the north and south towers, the hotel rooms and common areas in the central tower and the spa, which it boasts is the biggest on the Eastern seaboard.

Carillon Hotel took out a three-year policy in December 2016 with Lexington, which is part of AIG.

Hurricane Irma made landfall in September 2017 in the Florida Keys before churning up the state.

Carillon Hotel is claiming $9.6 million for damages to the original hotel building, $3.15 million in roof damage, $1.2 million in losses due to business interruption, $995,000 for north tower damage, $892,000 for flood damage and $860,000 for south tower damage.

Carillon Hotel said it provided Lexington with all the documents except roof damage records.

Lexington said the claim still was being examined when the suit was filed.

Carillon Hotel "did not fully comply as it filed suit prior to allowing for the continuance of the examination under oath and did not produce some documents in support of claim until after suit was filed," Lexington attorney Melissa Sims wrote in the affirmative defenses.

Sims represents Lexington with Ricardo Fernandez, both attorneys at Berk, Merchant & Sims in Miami. They didn't return a request for comment by deadline.

Geoffrey Cahen of Cahen Law in Boca Raton last September denied Lexington's assertion that some of Carillon Hotel's claims don't stem from Irma, saying the damages are all Irma-related. He declined to comment.

Both sides demanded a jury trial.

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