A buyer at Amrit Ocean Resort & Residences was promised peace and happiness when he purchased his condo at the wellness-oriented beachfront Singer Island development.
But months after closing on his $1.8 million purchase, David Stern alleges he is dealing with the opposite. He’s suing the developer, condo association, board members and the owner of the ground lease where the property was built. Stern claims that the developer has illegally maintained control of the association and failed to turn it over to unit owners.
He filed a lawsuit against Wellness Resorts, Wellness Residences, Amrit Ocean Resort II Condominium Association, Yash Pal Kakkar, and board members James Brown and Reggie Cooper in Palm Beach County Circuit Court in August. The defendants have filed motions to dismiss the complaint, which are typically the initial response to a lawsuit.
Amrit Ocean, at 3100 Ocean Drive in Riviera Beach, is part of a wave of new condo developments on Singer Island, which is north of the town of Palm Beach.
The Amrit project has faced a series of delays since it was first conceived more than 15 years ago.
The developer, an affiliate of Dilip Barot’s Creative Choice Group, relaunched sales in 2017, a decade after the Indian-born businessman pulled the plug on the project during the last condo bust.
Amrit consists of two towers, named Peace (the east building) and Happiness (the west building). The project includes a hotel component that the developer operates, and shared amenities.
The lawsuit points to the Florida statute governing condo associations, which states that unit owners, other than the developer, are entitled to elect at least a majority of the board of directors when any of the following occurs: when all the units have been completed, some are sold to buyers, and none of the others have been offered for sale by the developer, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys with Eisinger Law.
The complaint alleges that the developer stopped offering units for sale in the second tower.
“The actions taken by the developer .. are mere subterfuge so as to allow the developer to wrongfully and illegally maintain control over the association,” the complaint states.
Attorney Lindsey Lehr of Siegfried Rivera, who represents the developer’s entities, Wellness Resorts and Wellness Residences, said she and her clients deny the allegations in the complaint. Lehr filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on Tuesday.
Since closings began, she said in an email, “the developer has and continues to offer units for sale in the ordinary course of business, and turnover has not been triggered.”
Attorneys for the other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit also alleges that the developer has failed to hand over records and pre- and post-turnover assessments.
Stern, who purchased a unit in the Peace tower, told The Real Deal he is one of about 35 owners who are “very upset” with the condition of their units and the amenities. He said the developer has been “slow and/or resistant to address” punch list items that needed to be addressed upon closing.
“At this point, we believe we’re entitled to the HOA being turned over to the owners,” Stern said, adding that there have been issues with rusted fixtures, paint and grout that the association can address in order to turn Amrit into a “very high-end property.”
“We want to live in harmony with the developer,” he said.
