Icon Brickell Condo Owner Alleges Shoddy Soundproofing

A condo owner at Icon Brickell, a Related Group development, is alleging that inadequate soundproofing in the complex’s original construction is affecting his quality of life, according to a lawsuit.

Vidya Property Holdings LLC is suing Icon Brickell 2’s condo association and Marta Liliam Jaramillo Arango, the owner of the condo upstairs. Vidya is led by Arjun Soni.

Miami-based Related, which turned over two of three Icon Brickell towers in 2010 to its lender to avoid default, is not a named defendant. The company did not respond to a request for comment. Icon Brickell 2, a 57-story, 561-unit building at 495 Brickell Avenue in Miami, was one of the buildings Related gave back to HSBC.

The lawsuit, refiled in July to include Vidya Property Holdings’ upstairs neighbor, alleges that the condo association and Arango are in breach of the condo declaration by allowing the alleged impact noises from Arango’s unit to interfere with Soni’s “peaceful possession” of his condo. It also alleges that the association hasn’t attempted to remedy the situation, contact the developer or attempt to enforce Soni’s rights.

This week the association filed a motion requesting more time to respond to the claims in the complaint.

Attorneys for the association did not respond to a request for comment.

Vidya Property Holdings paid $1.3 million for the three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit in 2021, records show.

The complaint alleges that the noises from the unit above began in April 2022, and that Soni has repeatedly notified Icon’s board, Marquis Association Management and Arango in writing. Testing of the flooring and soundproofing determined that the flooring falls below the impact insulation class rating of 50, which the complaint alleges is “unacceptable for a luxury building of the caliber of Icon II.”

The building permit for the flooring required a rating of 54, according to the lawsuit. And the white porcelain floors in the unit above are the same floors installed by the developer in 2009. A sound insulation expert found the rating was as low as 47 in one room in Soni’s unit.

A tenant in the same building who declined to be named told The Real Deal that they would not purchase a unit in the tower unless they had an inspection performed on the unit above because of the alleged soundproofing issues. The tenant has been renting in the building for more than five years.

Icon Brickell has long dealt with alleged construction defects. In 2018, the master association and associations for two of the buildings sued John Moriarty & Associates of Florida and 20 subcontractors, alleging negligence and that they violated Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, among other claims, related to the type of PVC piping used in the construction of the towers. The lawsuit was dismissed the following year.

In 2014, the master association sued Moriarty and more than 20 subcontractors over alleged construction defects to the pool deck. Those issues shut down usage of the pool deck for about two years before reopening at the end of 2018.

The third tower, which Related completed, houses the W Miami hotel.