A subcontractor is suing Bal Harbour Shops over an unpaid construction bill totaling nearly $1 million.
Medley-based Solution Construction sued the luxury shopping center three weeks ago in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, alleging Bal Harbour Shops owes $966,000 for an entryway and a garage ramp the subcontractor built. Solution’s attorney and a spokesperson for Bal Harbour Shops’ owner, Whitman Family Development, did not respond to requests for comment.
Bal Harbour Shops at 9700 Collins Avenue in Bal Harbour is undergoing a $500 million renovation and expansion. According to its complaint, Solution was hired in 2019 to build an entryway and garage ramp at the luxury center for a combined $5.3 million. The subcontractor substantially completed the two projects when Whitman’s general contractor Whiting Turner allegedly wrongfully terminated Solution in October.
Solution alleges Bal Harbour Shops still owes $493,000 for the entryway and $473,000 for the garage ramp.
Led by CEO Matthew Whitman Lazenby, Whitman Family Development embarked on the half-billion dollar expansion of Bal Harbour Shops four years ago. The plan involves adding 340,000 square feet to the 511,000-square-foot shopping center that was once the first retail site to feature luxury designer brands as tenants in South Florida. Today, South Florida shoppers can also find such high-end designers as Gucci, Chanel and Tiffany & Co. in the Miami Design District and Aventura Mall.
Barneys New York had previously signed a lease at Bal Harbour Shops for a new big box space to house the department store chain’s first flagship store in the southeastern U.S. But after filing for bankruptcy, Barneys will not be opening at Bal Harbour Shops, Lazenby said in 2020.
The same year, Whitman Family got into a nasty legal fight with its original anchor tenant, Saks Fifth Avenue. The mall owner filed an eviction lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court alleging the department store chain failed to pay more than $1.8 million in rent derived from Saks’ net sales at Bal Harbour Shops. Whitman Family Development is also seeking to recoup some of an $18 million advance it provided Saks to renovate its store.
Saks Fifth Avenue countersued Bal Harbour Shops and Lazenby for defamation. Both lawsuits are still pending.