A prominent South Florida commercial property owner said he is facing nearly $1 million in code violation liens from the City of Lauderdale Lakes, calling the situation “egregious” and blaming the city’s delays for driving up the cost of what he describes as “minor” infractions.
Landlord says city delays inflated fines
Alan Levy, broker and president of Levy Realty Advisors, LLC, owns the Lauderdale Lakes Industrial Park — a business his family has operated for over two decades. While he has long viewed himself as a partner to city leaders, he said the handling of recent code violations has shaken that relationship.
“I don’t go after the government,” Levy said. “I don’t fight city hall.”
Three years ago, one of his tenants renovated a warehouse office without proper permits, making a bathroom handicapped-accessible, removing walls and updating lighting.
“Very minor by the way,” Levy said of the violations. “There was no life safety issues here.”
Levy took responsibility and attempted to fix the violations quickly, estimating the work cost about $18,000. But he said the city’s repeated delays in inspections dragged the process out for more than seven months.
“It took seven or eight months to do $18,000 worth of minor work to cure the violation (because of) one delay after another from the city for many different unknown reasons,” Levy said.
He said it took over 1,000 days for inspectors to verify compliance, resulting in more than $740,000 in lien payments.
“When I went in for my lien reduction, (city staff) said, we don’t have a platform for that,” Levy said. “You’re going to have to speak to the city attorney.”
According to Levy, more than a month later, the city attorney still has not responded to requests from his legal team.
“I can’t be the only victim,” he added. “There’s obviously other people (who) are suffering.”
Elderly couple also faces heavy fines
Levy’s comments came as CBS News Miami questioned the Lauderdale Lakes City Commission about the case of Kenneth Bordeaux, 82, and his wife Mildred, 80, who are facing $366,000 in fines over six code violations, including a broken window handle and cracked electrical outlet covers.
“The fines that they face, $366,000, are those excessive?” CBS News Miami reporter Larry Seward asked the commission during public comment Tuesday night.
“Everything is closed,” Kenneth Bordeaux told CBS News Miami after the meeting.
The next day, city spokesperson Aubyn Lewis responded to CBS News Miami, stating:
“Because the matters are pending litigation before a magistrate, it would be inappropriate to comment.”
Lewis noted that the city could change its lien reduction policy if commissioners choose to do so. So far, no resolutions have been proposed.
CBS News Miami reached out to Mayor Veronica Edwards Phillips and Commissioner Easton Harrison. Both declined to comment.
