Trump Group sues Suffolk again over delays at Sunny Isles project

After the developer and GC settled dueling lawsuits in May, both sides resumed their litigation

From left: The Trump Group's Jules Trump and Suffolk Construction's John Fish along with a rendering of the Estates at Acqualina (Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal with Getty, The Trump Group, and Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.L.)
From left: The Trump Group's Jules Trump and Suffolk Construction's John Fish along with a rendering of the Estates at Acqualina (Photo Illustration by Steven Dilakian for The Real Deal with Getty, The Trump Group, and Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.L.)

The Trump Group reopened its lawsuit against its general contractor, Suffolk Construction, over delays at the $1.8 billion Estates at Acqualina project, months after the two companies entered into a settlement agreement.

Affiliates of the Sunny Isles Beach developer, led by brothers Jules and Eddie Trump, filed an amended complaint against Suffolk last month seeking more than $50 million in damages. This followed Suffolk reopening its lawsuit a month earlier, in which it sought $15 million in damages for allegedly unpaid work.

The 248-unit Estates at Acqualina, a two-tower luxury condo project at 17901 Collins Avenue with a 45,000-square-foot amenities villa in between, is partially completed. The developer celebrated the grand opening of Avra Estiatorio Miami, a high-end Greek restaurant, last month. Unit closings are also underway, and buyers include LeBron James, but the north tower is not completed. The amenities villa includes an ice skating rink, bowling alley and Formula One simulator and the residential towers’ lobbies were designed by the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld.

Buyers who have not closed on their units at the sold-out development are stuck waiting.

“We lost patience,” said Jules Trump. “Our primary concern is our customers. We made promises of dates and delivery, and we took it seriously. Our customers took it seriously, and that’s been our focus.”

A spokesperson for Suffolk said the firm is continuing to work to complete the project.

“It is unfortunate the Trump Group continues to avoid the fundamental issue, which is its failure to pay for work completed on their project,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Though marketing materials list earlier dates, the 154-unit, 49-story south tower was supposed to be completed in November of last year, and the 52-story, 94-unit north tower was supposed to be completed in February of this year.

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Nearly 130 unit closings have been recorded for the south tower since June, property records show. At least two buyers who have yet to close on their units are looking to flip them for big profits. Joshua Coba, co-founder of European Wax Center, and his wife Jenni are asking $85 million for their three-story, 12,000-square-foot unit, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

Both Suffolk and Trump have been in disagreement over who is responsible for paying for unpaid work, including construction change orders.

Trump said the May settlement agreement outlined financial incentives for Suffolk if the firm had achieved specific goals by set dates, which he says Suffolk “missed by miles.”

“Most of their money is contingent and they’ve failed,” he said.

In the latest complaint filed this week, the developer suggests it was duped into hiring Suffolk “based on Suffolk’s misrepresentations” to the Trump Group and alleges that Suffolk’s performance “started to slip,” which led to project delays. Trump also alleges that the overall project delays were made worse because Suffolk failed to timely address and respond to the developer-issued directives, according to the complaint.

Trump alleges that Suffolk doesn’t have enough workers and higher level personnel on site. A source at Suffolk said “the opposite is true” and that Suffolk has about 350 workers on the North Tower site on a daily basis. “To suggest the project is understaffed is inaccurate and misleading,” the Suffolk source said.

Trump said that was false, and that that’s about the number of workers on the entire project.

“They’re continuing to work,” Suffolk said. “They have good people on the job, just not enough of them. We started out with about 800 people and it’s whittled down greatly.”