Trump Group Completes Estates at Acqualina South, Settles Litigation

Trump Group Completes Estates at Acqualina South, Settles Litigation


A rendering of the Estates at Acqualina’s and Jules Trump (Estates at Acqualina’s, Trump by Sonya Revell)

The Estates at Acqualina’s south tower has finally been completed.

The Trump Group also settled litigation with the project’s general contractor, marking a major step forward for the long-planned luxury condo development.

Eighty five closings have been recorded with Miami-Dade County for the 154-unit, 49-story south building at the two-tower oceanfront development at 17909 Collins Avenue, property records show. Despite lagging records, the 248-unit project is sold out. The second 52-story, 94-unit north tower is not yet completed.

The $1.8 billion project also includes a 45,000-square-foot amenities villa that’s expected to be delivered later this year. Both towers include lobbies designed by the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, and the amenities building will include an ice skating rink, bowling alley and the Avra Miami Estiatorio restaurant.

The Estates marks developers Jules and Eddie Trump’s (no relation to Donald) third luxury project in Sunny Isles Beach. Michael Goldstein, president of sales for the Trump Group, handled sales and marketing in-house. Prices ranged from the low $4 millions up to $35 million for the penthouse. The Estates also includes three single-family homes.

Buyers include South African wine mogul Lance Ellman, and his wife, Caryn; Ferraro Foods owner Michael Giammarino; Avra Group co-owner Nick Tsoulos (Avra is opening a 10,000-square-foot restaurant at the project); luxury broker Ryan Mendell; psychiatrist and author Dr. Daniel Amen and his wife Tana Amen; a company led by Ashok “Chuck” Khubani, the founder and CEO of Ontel Products; and a company managed by André El-Mann, CEO of the Mexican investment firm Fibra Uno.

The developer revealed initial plans for the two-tower complex in 2015, and construction began in 2018. Though the south tower was expected to be completed a year ago and the 52-story north tower was supposed to be done by February 2022, those dates came and went. Like a number of other projects, the project was not immune to construction delays exacerbated by the supply chain issues stemming from the pandemic.

Trump affiliate A3 Development sued its general contractor, Suffolk Construction, in February and Suffolk countersued the following month, over the project’s delays and disagreements over construction change directives and allegedly unpaid work. Both lawsuits were settled, court documents show.

Suffolk signed a $129.5 million contract two years ago to develop the north tower, taking over from Coastal Construction, which signed a $600 million contract with the developer to build the entire project in 2018.

A spokesperson for Suffolk declined to comment on details of the settlement. The developer was not available for an interview.



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