Family-owned Monceau Real Estate allegedly reneged on buying out a partner involved in a Goulds workforce housing development site, a recently filed lawsuit alleges.
Jason Talbot, principal of Miami-based Workforce Housing Partners, sued Miami Beach-based Monceau and its sibling owners, Adrian, Julien and Sarah Haccoun, in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Friday for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and unjust enrichment.
An affiliate of Amsterdam-based global real estate firm NEF, which owns 90 percent of the 4.5-acre site near Southwest 212th Street and Southwest 117th Avenue, is also named as a defendant. Talbot and Monceau each own 5 percent of the property, court records show.
Talbot’s complaint alleges that the Haccouns violated a buyout agreement by failing to pay him $380,000 by a July 9 closing date, and subsequently sought to dilute his ownership stake when he refused to make more capital contributions.
Julien Haccoun told The Real Deal that Talbot’s complaint is baseless.
“The allegations in the lawsuit are completely unfounded,” Haccoun said. “We intend to vigorously defend ourselves in court.”
Talbot, who is seeking $750,000 in damages, declined comment. He also accuses the Haccouns of mismanaging what was intended to be a 396-unit workforce housing project at the Goulds site by allegedly failing to obtain zoning entitlements for the property.
In 2022, Talbot, Monceau and NEF paid $7.1 million for the property. The Haccouns also allegedly failed to seek capital contributions from NEF, including its share of payments on a $3.9 million mortgage that partially financed the purchase of the site, the lawsuit states. Meanwhile, Talbot claims he contributed $293,189, including $97,500 that NEF was allegedly supposed to pay.
After allegedly failing to buy him out in July, Monceau allegedly demanded that Talbot make an additional $157,073 capital contribution, the lawsuit states. If Talbot failed to do so, his shares would allegedly be diluted.
In March, Talbot’s Workforce Housing Partners sued another NEF affiliate for control of a $110 million planned mixed-use project near the Sweetwater campus of Florida International University. NEF also owns 90 percent of that 1.3-acre assemblage. Monceau and Workforce Housing Partners owned the remaining interest. But in October of last year, Workforce Housing Partners bought out Monceau.