When Frisbie Group launched its high-end West Palm Beach condominium project this year, the hype was near deafening. Unit asking prices reached $75 million, promising a new level of luxury living in the city.
The project marks Robert A.M. Stern Architects’ first luxe residential tower in Florida.
But a lawsuit filed by Two Roads Development, which had wanted to build on the same site, has made construction lenders and potential buyers wary of betting on Frisbie’s project, The Palm Beach Post reported, citing court records filed by Frisbie. Not only are financiers nervous about backing the project, but buyers who have collectively put in $480 million in unit reservations are on the fence about turning them into contracts.
“If this legal uncertainty cannot be eliminated promptly, we are potentially at risk of losing hundreds of millions of dollars of sales and deposits from buyers,” Robert Frisbie Jr., one of the founders of the family firm, said in a federal court affidavit, according to The Post.
Palm Beach-based Frisbie has partnered with Houston-based Hines on the two 28-story South Flagler House towers with 82 condos and seven townhouses on the northeast corner of South Flagler Drive and Diana Place. Prices start at $10 million.
Two Roads Development, which had wanted to buy and redevelop the property, last December sued the property’s seller, Palm Beach Atlantic University, and Frisbie, alleging civil racketeering to “steal” Two Roads’ project plans for the waterfront site. PBAU and Frisbie have denied the claims, calling Two Roads a “failed” bidder in court records.
Frisbie and Hines, led by Jeffrey Hines and Laura Hines-Pierce, closed on their $41.5 million purchase of the 3-acre property in July. But Two Roads is pushing in court to buy the land — threatening to upend Frisbie and Hines’ ownership.
“There’s always a risk a court will determine the current owner is not the owner,” attorney Steven Wallace, who isn’t involved in the litigation, told The Post.
The lawsuit comes as several developers have zeroed in on West Palm Beach with plans for high-end condo projects. Two Roads, based in Miami and West Palm, is building the 25-story Forté, where most of the 41 units have been presold, next to the South Flagler House site.
In the north part of the city, Jeff Greene wants to develop a pair of 30-story condos next to Currie Park. Preliminary plans for the Herzog & de Meuron-designed project call for 182 units at 2121 North Flagler Drive.
— Lidia Dinkova