Duprey sues Fort Lauderdale for $240m

TRINIDADIAN businessman Lawrence Duprey has filed a TT $240 million law suit against the City of Fort Lauderdale in Florida over the denial by the city to give final approval to his multi-million dollar beach condominium and retail project. According to the Miami Herald newspaper, one suit filed last Friday by Palazzo Las Olas Group seeks US$40 million in damages, alleging the city “trampled’’ the developer’s rights when it voted 4-1 in November to deny a site plan for the 173-unit project. The second suit asks the courts to strike the city’s vote of denial. The legal attacks come at a difficult time for the cash-strapped city, which is slashing $12 million from this year’s budget through layoffs and service cuts.

Touted as an “urban beach village,’’ the Palazzo Las Olas proposal was chosen for the 7.5-acre site at Las Olas Boulevard on the Intracoastal Waterway in 2001 by commissioners through a bidding process. Since that vote, the make- up of the commission has changed. The lawsuit alleges that the “tide turned’’ against the development after the March elections, which brought in Dean Trantalis and Christine Teel. Both voted with Mayor Jim Naugle and Commissioner Cindi Hutchinson to stop the controversial project. Critics of the project objected that it was a giveaway of land that should be used instead for a park or some other public purpose. During a marathon commission meeting, city officials said the Palazzo site plan did not conform to city building codes, pointing to the length and height of buildings, as well as some setbacks. “It is egregious bad faith for the city to now say ‘gotcha’ and deny the project because it does not meet the setback criteria,’’ according to the suit, which was filed in Broward Circuit Court.
The Palazzo development team says the project will bring the city $24 million in public improvements, including a garage with 1,000 parking spaces, a grocery store, two-storey building for city use, beach equipment storage and space that could house a police sub-station.

The US$40 million damage request includes US$5 million for legal fees, architectural plans, marketing and advertising, US$9 million in liabilities and US$26 million in potential loss of profits. The project is financed by CL Financial Ltd, a worldwide conglomerate based in Trinidad and Tobago and headed by billionaire Lawrence Duprey. City commissioners said they were uncomfortable about language in the development agreement, especially sections that gave the developer some influence over what kind of events the city could host on the waterfront promenade. In addition, several commissioners said earlier that a separate 1998 agreement requires the city to share half of any profits from development of the land with the state of Florida. Naugle said he could not comment extensively on the lawsuit because it is pending litigation. “I think the city voted the right way,’’ said Naugle, who has fought against excessive development in Fort Lauderdale.