November 2, 2006
Miami-Dade County, FL – Brigham Moore, Florida’s largest private property rights defense law firm, successfully represented Aventura Bellagio, LLC, in a case where the School Board used its power of eminent domain to acquire the owner’s property for a new elementary school.
Brigham Moore Partner Mark A. Tobin served as lead counsel in defending the condemnation lawsuit. Approximately one week before trial, specially set before Judge Cardonne Ely, negotiations with the School Board ultimately resulted in a settlement of $7 million, including attorney’s fees and costs. The settlement was approved at the School Board’s most recent meeting and a Stipulated Final Judgment was entered by the Court on November 29, 2006.
Aventura Bellagio, LLC, owned approximately 4.6 acres on the southeast corner of N.E. 26th Avenue and N.E. 211th Street in Aventura. Aventura Bellagio put the property under contract by paying the owner his asking price in July, 2002, and after expending considerable effort and money to complete various important steps in the development process, closed in December, 2003, and was well under way with the development of Aventura Bellagio, a gated community consisting of 55 Mediterranean influenced luxury townhomes.
At the time the School Board took the property, against the owner’s will, Aventura Bellagio, LLC, had already re-zoned the property, received site plan approval from the government, attained a number of the necessary development permits, construction financing was in place, and there was intense demand resulting in pre-sales. The School Board originally offered $2.050 million for the property. When the developers declined the offer, the School Board filed an eminent domain lawsuit.
The School Board staff and its private lawyers, Tom Bolf and Dale Bruschi of Ruden, McClosky, et al., in Fort Lauderdale, aggressively prosecuted the case for the public. The School Board, its supervisor and his staff, have a very difficult task of finding land that can be used for schools to provide for the needed expansions. Effectively, they are competing in the market with private residential developers. This case was a classic example of where a complete lack of supply meets with intensively high demand.
“With the demand for well located land in Aventura, and the value of the approvals and entitlements Bellagio had achieved, plus the costs associated with its efforts to date, we felt the property had much greater value, and are pleased with the result we achieved for our client,” said Tobin. It has been a great privilege to represent knowledgeable developers with integrity to protect their constitutionally protected property rights. The School Board staff and its lawyers consistently treated the owner with respect and fairness. I join the owner in thanking the School Board and its lawyers for their professionalism.
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Brigham Moore is Florida's leading statewide eminent domain and property rights defense firm with offices in Jacksonville, Miami, West Palm Beach, Sarasota and St. Petersburg. Since its founding more than 30 years ago, Brigham Moore has built a statewide and national reputation for zealous protection of property rights and for skillful advocacy in pursuit of constitutional full compensation. In addition to representing private property owners in the context of eminent domain proceedings, inverse condemnation, regulatory takings, Private Property Protection Act claims, and pre-condemnation counseling, the firm also devotes significant resources to maintaining and improving property rights protection by consistent advocacy for legislative and constitutional reforms in Florida.
Contact: Sue Siebert or Don Silver of Boardroom Communications, 954-370-8999 or ssiebert@boardroompr.com.