The condo association that governs the Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale condo-hotel filed for bankruptcy after losing a legal fight with two hospitality investment giants.
The Castillo Grand Hotel Condominium Residences Association (CGHCRA), which governs the condo-hotel units at the property, filed for Chapter 11 restructuring in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The move followed years of litigation with the owners of the hotel at 1 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, affiliates of New York-based Brookfield Properties and Chicago-based Watermark Capital Partners.
The bankruptcy filing blocks the Brookfield affiliate from collecting on $7.9 million in financial damages awarded by a Broward County Circuit judge in May.
The Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale includes a 166-key hotel, 34 condo-hotel units and 28 condo units. In 2019, CGHCRA filed suit against Brookfield and Watermark in Broward County Circuit Court, alleging the condo-hotel unit owners were paying an unfair share of the property’s expenses. The hotel owners responded with a counter claim, and in 2022, the court ruled in their favor, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
In May of this year, Broward County Judge Michael W. Robinson ruled that CGHCRA owed the Brookfield affiliate, CWI-CG RCFL Property Owner LLC, $7.9 million in financial damages, based on a special assessment for attorneys fees and other legal expenses related to the suit.
“After presiding over this case from its inception, the court is uniquely familiar with the lack of any merit to plaintiff’s legal contentions,” Judge Robinson wrote in the final ruling, adding that the condo association dragged out the suit and demanded unnecessary discovery.
The outstanding $7.9 million claim is the most expensive liability listed in the association’s Chapter 11 filing, followed by a $1.5 million claim from Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, which is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, according to the publication.
–– Kate Hinsche
