Sunny Isles Beach’s Parque Towers Sues J. Milton, Affiliates

J. Milton & Associates and its affiliates asserted illegal dominion over a two-building Sunny Isles Beach condo complex, holding a grip on the association “as if it were their fiefdom,” a lawsuit says.

The Parque Towers Condominium Association sued J. Milton, Joseph Milton and their Parque Towers Developers in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Friday, adding to the yearslong bad blood between the association and the developer that’s playing out in several civil cases. The complaint also names Yosef Gil, who allegedly led condo sales and marketing, his E.G.T. Sales and Marketing firm, and several individuals who sat on the Parque Towers board of directors before the association turnover.

A condo association and its board are meant to represent and serve unit owners, said Jason Rodgers-da Cruz, the attorney for the Parque Towers association.

But the developer implemented a “scheme” so that at Parque Towers “there’s really no separation between developer and association,” said Rodgers-da Cruz, of Siegfried Rivera.

Coral Gables-based J. Milton, a luxury condo developer led by Joseph Milton, completed the pair of 29-story Parque Towers with 320 condos in 2019. The bayfront buildings are at 300-330 Sunny Isles Boulevard.

Although this is a new suit, it reflects similar issues already playing out in cases for the past two years.

One of the primary disputes is over the association’s construction defects claims against Parque Towers Developers. The association first sued the developer in 2024 and again brought up these claims in its new complaint. It asserts deficiencies with roofs, pools, arrival decks, seawall, garage, glazing, sliding glass doors, balcony railings and elevators.

The suit also claims that associates of the developer have tried to get the city of Sunny Isles Beach to “issue as many building code violations as possible in an effort to shut down” and stand in the way of the association’s investigation of construction defects.

In meetings with unit owners, the developer tried to rally residents against the defects investigation and used its associates to harass association-retained construction experts and residents, at one point using a derogatory word at a unit owner, the complaint says.

Another big point of ongoing contention: Who has access to and the right of control and use for a slew of facilities, including parking spots, cabanas, a 3,000-square-foot covered outdoor loggia and storage spaces. Although the Parque Towers Developers and E.G.T. Sales and Marketing have claimed in past lawsuits they’re in their full right to control these areas, the association argues they should be for unit owners, according to court filings.

The developer’s appointees served on the association board until 2022, or about a year past the mandated deadline to turn over association control to unit owners, the association says in the new suit.

The developer illegally tweaked the condo declaration to assign the loggia and other areas as add-ons belonging to a Parque Towers commercial unit Gil owned, even though these are common areas residents should have access to, the lawsuit alleges. The commercial unit was transferred to Gil’s company for a nominal $100.

The association claims Milton and Gil reassigned all 14 cabanas to Gil’s commercial units, and that the developer took control of 118 garage spaces, at one point chaining them so unit owners couldn’t park there. Also, the developer imposed a requirement in the condo declaration for the association to obtain the developer’s approval to take out loans, and didn’t submeter Milton, Gil and Parque Towers Developers’ commercial units, leaving residents on the hook for electricity use in those units, the complaint says.

In 2024, Parque Towers Developers sued the association over using the parking and a commercial space, saying it also declined to pay rent for these spaces. This case is ongoing.

J. Milton “is absolutely entitled to keep 118 parking spaces,” said Robert Frankel, the developer’s attorney, adding that the firm has never banned residents from using the parking or “party room.”

“Milton said they can use it, but they need to pay me for it,” he said. “They have been using them rent free.”

Frankel also pushed back on the notion the condo declaration was illegally amended, arguing that these documents go through an “austere” review by the state, which ultimately approved Parque’s declaration.

Regarding the declaration’s clause for the developer’s approval for a loan, Frenkel said “it’s not uncommon.”

In 2024, Gil’s E.G.T. Sales and Marketing sued the association arguing it has control over the loggia, a restaurant space and a storage space because the areas are appurtenances to its commercial unit at Parque. This case is ongoing.

E.G.T.’s attorney in that case, Glen Waldman, declined to comment.

Milton didn’t return a request for comment.

But in a 2024 letter to unit owners, he argued Parque Towers had wrongfully accused him and his firm of interfering with testing and repairs tied to the alleged defects. He also said the association had no city permits for some of its emergency repairs, and that some of this work is “unnecessary” and could put Parque Towers’ structural integrity “at risk.”

J. Milton’s attorneys and the association’s attorneys were in talks to address the alleged construction defects but then the association chose to sue instead, Milton wrote in his letter.

“These tests and alleged emergency repairs have proven to be unproductive,”Milton wrote, “and do not reveal that there” are any construction or design flaws.