Condo association in Brickell tower says developer overcharged for shared facilities

The suit claims Mast Capital, which owns the building's hotel portion, unlawfully jacked up the amount the condo had to contribute to its budget

Mast Capital CEO Camilo Miguel and the Conrad Hotel
Mast Capital CEO Camilo Miguel and the Conrad Hotel

A condominium association in Brickell is suing its shared services provider, Mast Capital, alleging the developer unexpectedly and excessively raised the amount the condo owners had to contribute.

The Mayfield Condominium Association also claimed Mast Capital — which owns the hotel portion of the building — overcharged for some of these expenses, which include maintenance for some of the shared facilities such as security, mail delivery, accounting, admin expenses. The civil suit was filed last month in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

Mast Capital owns the Conrad Hotel, which is the hotel portion of the 36-story building, called Espirito Santo Plaza at 1395 Brickell Ave. The property, also called Brickell Arch, has 103 luxury condos, along with offices and a retail component. The condo is also called Blue Arch.

According to the suit, Mast Capital also overcharged the condo association for taxes when none had been levied by the tax authority, and double-billed for the same security person.

Mayfield Condo Association is now requesting to see Mast Capital’s financial records.

Mast Capital is responsible for providing the members of the condo owners access and use of some components of the hotel, according to the suit.

In turn, the association is responsible for paying 10 percent of these facilities costs. Mast is also responsible for maintaining physical corridors within the condo component of the property, which the condo association is responsible for paying for, the complaint alleges.

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The condo owners allege that the proposed 2018 budget for these total costs increased significantly to $733,109 this year, from $291,150 in 2017. That factors to a 150 percent increase.

As a result of these new costs, the condo association “requested to inspect the books and records of Mast Capital” in order to “attempt to understand for itself the reason for the inexplicable increases.” It alleges that Mast Capital has refused all demands by the association to inspect the books.

The association said while it has been unable to review the hotel facilities records, it has still identified several budget items it alleges it was overcharged, including billing the association $102,747 for taxes related to the commercial units when they allege no taxes were levied by tax authorities.

The condo association says that Mast Capital has breached its agreement.

Mast Capital could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mayfield Condo Association’s attorney Jason Alderman of the Alderman Law Firm declined to comment citing pending litigation.