Palm Bay Yacht Club condo owners say $46 million repair bill doesn't add up
MIAMI - A shocking assessment for one condominium in Miami this week.
Owners are being asked to pay $175,000 each towards their 40-year recertification. This is a story we have been hearing more and more across South Florida.
Residents say something isn't adding up and they are putting the blame on their homeowners' association.
"I'm in shock, in disbelief," said Christian Murray.
Murray has lived in the Palm Bay Yacht Club condos since 2016. Now he and many other residents are worried if they'd be able to keep their homes.
Background
The building needs its 40-year recertification, meaning, an engineer needs to come and see if the building needs structural and electrical repairs. It's not uncommon that some areas need to be fixed.
When the property manager, called AKAM, brought in their engineer, they claimed the building needed $46 million dollars in repairs.
"We'd have to pay nearly $200 thousand in repairs," said Murray. "That's insane."
Murray says the entire building itself is worth around $50 million.
So residents hired a different engineer to do the same assessment and they were told the building needed around $23 million in repairs, a far cry from the initial $46 million.
"Asking for $46 million is really extraordinary," said attorney Jane Muir.
Muir was hired by the residents to fight against the property managers.
"In my 44 years as an engineer, it was a shock to see an assessment that high," said structural engineer Juan Fernandez-Barquin. "I don't like injustices, and I think that's what we are looking at here."
Fernandez-Barquin was one of the engineers hired by residents to get a second opinion.
"There are some repairs that need to be done, but it's not $46 million dollars worth," he said.
AKAM said the price also includes repairs to the outdoor railings and hurricane-impact windows.
However, Fernandez-Barquin says those items do not fall under the 40-year recertification and should be paid for separately.
The Problem
Upon further investigation, Muir said the initial engineer largely inflated the cost of repairs. Residents believe AKAM is not only inflating numbers but also wants to hire their sister company, Project Management Group, to oversee the repairs.
Many residents say they did not know Project Management Group was associated with AKAM.
"It's going to ruin their lives, people are going to lose their homes," said resident Sonia Przulji. "I cannot afford this. I've cried myself to sleep wondering what I'd do."
"I want the truth," said resident Margarita Genova-Cordova. "This is not right."
CBS4 reached out to the AKAM attorneys and they've agreed to speak with us.