Edition Residences Miami Buyers Sues Two Roads

Three buyers are suing Two Roads Development to recover their deposits from the planned Edition Residences in Miami’s Edgewater, where holdout owners of the existing Biscayne 21 building have worked for years to block redevelopment.

The buyers, Armando Lozano Ojeda, Alejandro Garcia and Patricia Zavala, entered into contracts to purchase five units at the Edition project in the spring of 2023. Per their contracts, their units were expected to be completed by the summer of 2028. The owners are seeking their deposits — totaling about $2.5 million — plus interest, costs and attorneys’ fees.

Lozano is under contract to purchase two units; Garcia also has two units under contract and Zavala is purchasing one, according to the lawsuit, which was filed last month in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

“In order to meet this commitment the developer had to have already started construction of the [project],” the lawsuit states. “Developer has anticipatorily breached [the contract], including its implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, because it is impossible for the developer to substantially complete construction … by approximately June 20, 2028.”

Taylor Collins, managing partner of Two Roads, said in a statement that the buyers’ binding contracts are “clear on this issue” and that Two Roads still plans to develop the Edition project.

A certificate of termination was filed in April, records show. Terminating the condo association is a required legal step in demolishing the site of a condo building.

“The courts already allowed us to record a new certificate of termination and we are moving forward,” Collins said.

Regarding the buyers’ lawsuit, Collins wrote that the claims are “without merit” and he expects the suit to be resolved through summary judgment.

“That said, we understand some buyers have concerns given the current environment, and we’ve worked directly with many purchasers on a case-by-case basis to find practical solutions,” he said. “At the same time, while we respect the process, we will not allow litigation to be used as a tool to obstruct the project’s advancement.”

Lawyers for the buyers did not comment.

The Edition is planned for the site of the Biscayne 21 condo building at 2121 North Bayshore Drive in Miami.

In 2022, Two Roads Development, a Miami and West Palm Beach-based development firm led by Collins and Reid Boren, paid about $150 million for the majority of the units at Biscayne 21. The developer then launched sales of the first of three planned Edition buildings, a 55-story, 185-unit tower, with unit prices starting at $1.7 million.

The following year, a group of holdout owners sued the developer and the developer-controlled condo association over the latter’s vote amending the condo declaration to lower the requirement for a condo termination to 80 percent of owners, from 100 percent. An appeals court ruled in favor of the holdouts, agreeing that amending the termination requirement altered unit owners’ voting rights. Two Roads took the issue to the state’s Supreme Court, but the court denied the developer’s request for a rehearing.

Then, earlier this year, a Miami-Dade judge ordered the developer to restore the waterfront condo building to a habitable state, including repairs and restoring utilities such as air conditioning, water and electricity. In response, Two Roads sued the holdout owners.