Park-Line Miami

Subcontractors have filed 15 liens on the Park-Line Miami apartments, a luxury condo development in the MiamiCentral mixed-use property in downtown Miami, Florida.

The mixed-use property is in the main thoroughfare of Miami. It is located at the starting point of Brightline, the new monorail connecting Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Developers are planning to expand the rail line to Orlando and Tampa.

The Virgin MiamiCentral Station is the foundation of the property along with a 3-story parking deck. Above the transit hub is Central Fare, the shopping district, food hall, and office park. The two Park-Line towers sit on top of Central Fare, with a total of 816 residential units and 105K square feet of amenities. The whole property is 903,779 sq. ft. off of 6th St and 1st Ave in Miami, FL.

The latest lien filed against the property owner, DT Residential South LLC & DT Residential North LLC, in June, 2020 was by the General Contractor Suffolk Construction Co., for $14M.

The June lien is following the lien filed in April, 2020 by, POMA Construction Corp., one of the contractors for the residential portion of the project. POMA’s lien against Suffolk totals for $48K.

The now-defunct contractor for the office portion of the complex, Facchina Construction of Florida LLC, is still pursuing payment from a $4.3M lien filed in 2018 against All Aboard Florida, now Florida East Coast Industries.

All liens were recorded by the Miami-Dada Clerk’s office.

Virgin Trains Settles $10.5M Payment Dispute

The current liens for the residential portions of the property are not the first construction disputes on the Virgin MiamiCentral project. The Real Deal reported on the $10.5M settlement between ADF Industrial, Suffolk, and Virgin Trains USA FL in September of last year.

ADF, the steel contractor that built the transit station that spans the base of the complex, claimed that Suffolk had poor management of the project. It is not uncommon for projects to have delays because of scope changes or contractors working on top of each other. But ADF stated the mismanagement of the project caused massive delays, as well as excessive additional work that was not being paid.

Suffolk also reported a lack of proper communication with ADF. Questions would be left unanswered and portions of the project would be left uncompleted, impeding the progress of ADF’s scope of work.

General Contractor Files $14M Lien

Suffolk’s $14M lien against Florida East Coast Industries, the property owner of MiamiCentral, blames their mismanagement of the project on the lack of budget increases and extension for the project.

Florida East Coast Industries (FECI), the parent company to DT Residential South & North, allegedly did not uphold their agreement of increasing the budget or extending the completion date when needed. Suffolk is citing inclement weather for delays and the need for an increase in the budget for the lack of payment to their subcontractors. FECI would not respond to requests for extensions or change orders, according to Suffolk.

FECI sold the Park-Line buildings to Shorenstein Properties, a California based property firm, for $159.4M in May of 2019.

New Property Owner Shorenstein Inherited $4.3 Million in Debt

With the purchase of Park-Line Miami, Shorenstein has also acquired all of the building debts for the property. Facchina Construction filed a suit against Shorenstein in 2018 over $4.3M in unpaid work on the office park portion of MiamiCentral. Facchina filed a lien against All Board, now Virgin Trains USA back in 2018 for the $4.3M. All Aboard has refused to pay the outstanding amount due.

Facchina had a suit filed against them and All Aboard in over poor management of the project back in 2017. The suit states delays due to poor communication with the subcontractors by Facchina as well as demeaning working conditions.

This suit against All Aboard follows another payment lawsuit from Sprint for $600K over right-of-way access. There has been no settlement recorded as of date.

Plans for Expansion in Question

Virgin Trains USA, the parent company to FECI, is working with Miami-Dade on plans to expand the Brightline from Miami to Aventura for $350M.

The building commission has expressed concerns about the expansion project, citing the $20M in outstanding payments for the MiamiCentral project as well as the volume of passengers. Since COVID-19, the world is moving into a space of social distancing and staying at home, raising the question of whether Miami will need the extended railway system.

The mayor has until August 31, 2020, to make their decision to accept the proposal on funding the project.

Park-Line Faces $20.5M in Mechanics Liens

As of June 2020, there are two liens against Park-Line Miami totaling $14.3 million. The property as a whole has $20.5 million due to contractors in Florida.

Virgin Trains USA, the parent company to the original property owners, is still in disputes with both contractors for unpaid labor and materials. Per the Miami-Dade County Courts database, there are many other contractors with outstanding lien claims that have yet to be resolved.

In total, $20.5M has been filed in liens against the Park-Line Miami condos since 2017.