Entrance to CocoWalk Shopping Center in Miami, FL

A total of eight construction lien claims worth $462K are the latest addition to Miami’s growing list of shopping centers facing payment disputes.

Including the project’s general contractor, eight different contractors have placed eight liens on the CocoWalk Shopping Center in Miami, FL neighborhood of Coconut Grove as of July 23, 2020, according to lien affidavits filed with the Miami-Dade County clerk’s office. Mechanics liens are used to ensure a property owner can not sell or refinance the property until the lien is removed to help force payment.

The property owner of the 165 thousand-square-foot shopping center upon 3 acres of land is Frit CocoWalk Owner, LLC.

8 Contractors Owed $462K at the CocoWalk Shopping Center in Coconut Grove

The eight contractors are owed a total of $462,939.22 for renovations taking place at the CocoWalk Shopping Center, which is located at 3015 Grand Ave., Coconut Grove, FL.

According to the lien affidavits, the largest mechanics lien filed against the property was from subcontractor Precision Air Conditioning, Inc. against fellow subcontractor LTCI. On April 10, 2020, Precision Air Conditioning filed a lien claiming they are owed $317,755 for their HVAC installation services, which accounts for 69% of the total funds still withheld from the eight contractors.

LTCI was featured in another lien claim on July 6, 2020, as subcontractor Walker Commercial Interiors claims they are owed $34,911 pursuant to a contract that spanned from February 2020 to April 2020.

Precision Air Condition is also faced with a lien filing against them, as subcontractor AMI Distributors claims they are owed $18,755.30 as of April 13, 2020.

The project’s general contractor, Juneau Construction Company, has been subject to at least two mechanics lien filings that total $43,503.51 since May 2020. Subcontractor RD Souza, Inc. filed the largest claim against Juneau Construction Company on May 28, 2020, claiming $31K in unpaid work. The general contractor’s second claim came on July 14, 2020, from Hoover Architectural, which claims they are owed $12,474.55.

On July 14, 2020, two separate claims were placed on the CocoWalk Shopping Center from two different contractors. The largest of the two was valued at $17,762.50 from Concrete Imaging & Cutting, Inc. against Halloran Construction Group. Also on the 14th, C.R. Laurence Co., Inc. filed a $12K lien claim against United Glass Systems Corp.

To date, the latest lien was filed on July 23, 2020, by Builder Services Group, which claims they are owed $17,810 from Mocca Construction.

Miami Malls Collectively Owe $35 Million to Contractors

An additional three shopping centers in the metro Miami area are also faced with lien claims since August 2020. The latest lien filings were placed on the Sawgrass Mills shopping mall in Sunrise, FL, which has eight lien claims valued at $2.5M. In Plantation, FL, the Westfield Broward Mall is linked to nearly $9M in unpaid construction work, while the Esplanade at Aventura in Miami is facing 25 mechanics liens totaling $23.1M.

Between three metro Miami shopping malls at Sawgrass Mills, Esplanade at Aventura, and the Westfield Broward Mall, at least 43 contractors are owed $34.4M as of August 2020.