Suffolk again sues Estates at Acqualina developer in alleged “Halloween ambush”

Suffolk Construction and Trump Group are both back on the offensive in their battle tied to the developer’s Estates at Acqualina condo project in Sunny Isles Beach.

Suffolk reopened its lawsuit against the affiliates of Trump Group, seeking $15 million in damages for allegedly unpaid work at the oceanfront two-tower luxury condo development, where buyers include basketball superstar LeBron James. (The company and its principals are not related to former president Donald Trump.)

The Sunny Isles Beach-based development firm led by brothers Jules and Eddie Trump, said it was “blindsided” by the filing. Trump said that Suffolk is engaging in deceptive behavior by filing the lawsuit as the firm was actively working with Suffolk to resolve the issues.

At the core of Suffolk and Trump’s dispute is a fundamental disagreement over which is responsible for delays and unpaid work.

Construction of the nearly $2 billion sold-out development at 17909 Collins Avenue has been delayed by months — the first tower was supposed to be completed in August of last year, but it was delivered this summer — and the second tower was supposed to be completed this past February, according to court records.

Trump affiliates sued Suffolk in February in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, and a month later, Suffolk sued the developer in federal court. But they settled their lawsuits in May. Closings are underway in one tower, and construction is ongoing on the second high-rise. Everything appeared to be back on track.

That is, until Thursday, when Suffolk filed its amended complaint against Trump affiliates, alleging that the developer has refused to approve extensions and pay Suffolk for more than 400 design and scope changes to the project. The suit includes a number of other allegations, including that the developer created a “hostile work environment” for Suffolk employees.

Suffolk alleges that the developer has “cash starved” Suffolk and its subcontractors. It also notes that Suffolk is the third general contractor to work on the project, following Moss Construction and Coastal Construction. It cites a lawsuit Coastal filed against the developer and settled last year.

Jules Trump called the filing a “Halloween ambush.” A day before Suffolk filed its lawsuit, a Suffolk executive set a meeting with Jules Trump for next week, and Suffolk’s chairman and CEO, John Fish appeared to have “extended an olive branch” by reaching out to Trump hours before the filing, the developer said.

“Sadly, Suffolk cloaked their trickery in what were supposed to be good faith negotiations for the purpose of distracting us,” Trump Group said in a statement.

But a Suffolk spokesperson called it “disingenuous” to call the filing a surprise.

“This issue has been brought to the attention of the Trump Group in dozens of meetings and dozens of letters over the course of four months,” the spokesperson said.

Suffolk’s latest lawsuit also reveals terms of the settlement between Suffolk and Trump Group affiliates, including staffing requirements for Estates at Acqualina’s job site. In May, the two sides reached their settlement, which outlines that the developer would pay up to $13 million to fund the completion of Estates.

Suffolk said Trump refuses to negotiate and resolve more than $5 million in construction change directives, according to the complaint. It said the developer has issued more than 20 of those changes without taking into account the impacts they would have financially or on the project’s timeline.

The 248-unit development includes a 45,000-square-foot amenities villa with an ice skating rink, bowling alley and the soon-to-open Avra Miami Estiatorio restaurant. The two residential towers’ lobbies were designed by the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

In the lawsuit, Suffolk said that Trump accused Suffolk of “coercion, extortion and threatening criminal charges” if the change order requests were not withdrawn. The construction firm said that the “outrageous and scurrilous accusation and threat” was made even though Suffolk has continued to work on the project, according to the complaint.

Jules Trump said that Suffolk was abusing the change order process by not abiding by the terms of the settlement and the guaranteed maximum price contract.

“The problem is Suffolk is demanding payments that clearly are not due, as they have failed to deliver as required under the settlement agreement,” Trump said in a response to TRD. “Virtually every deadline promised in May has been missed by a country mile.”

Trump, for example, denies that the firm owes Suffolk money for fixing “severe hot water delivery delays” mentioned in Suffolk’s complaint that the general contractor said required “significant design modifications,” according to the complaint. Trump said that Suffolk was very late to install the hot water system, leaving “insufficient” time to test it.

The back and forth between the two sides will likely continue to play out, with buyers who have been unable to close left to continue waiting until the development is completed.

“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to resolve this, the Trump Group’s plan seems to be to drag those issues out in the hopes we’ll get the building 100 percent complete and leave us holding the bag,” the Suffolk spokesperson said. “That’s not an option for us.”