Owners Of Savoy Hotel & Beach Club Sue For $50M Over Unauthorized Demolition

Real estate investment firm Allied Partners is suing an architect and engineer who it claims demolished parts of an iconic Miami Beach landmark without its consent. It's asking a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge to award it $50M. 

New York-based Allied owns The Savoy Hotel & Beach Club on South Beach in the posh South of Fifth neighborhood at 425 and 455 Ocean Drive. The buildings were severely damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and Allied claims in court filings that New Jersey-based architect Kevin Gore and Miami-based engineer Elvis Torres, who it hired to restore the historic buildings, started work before the developer had received permits from the city of Miami Beach.

Allied, which acquired the two art deco-style edifices for $28M in 2005, originally sued Gore and Torres in New York last year, but the case was dismissed and refiled in Miami-Dade Circuit Court this month, The Real Deal reports.

Allied claims the two buildings — Arlington East, which houses most of the establishment’s 75 rooms, and Arlington West, which houses the restaurant, the property’s kitchen, café, event hall and 31 rooms — took severe damage in the Category 4 hurricane, and it hired Gore to help restore it.

But it claims in the suit that Gore didn't follow its instructions, expanding the scope of work and proceeding with demolition without proper permits or professional designs, TRD reports. His allegedly unsanctioned work jeopardizes Allied's redevelopment plans and its relationship with Miami Beach officials, the lawsuit claims.

It cited estimates that the buildings — one of which was ruled uninhabitable after the work in question — could cost $30M to restore. Allied estimates the Savoy has suffered up to $20M in lost profits.