palindrome
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I didn't know where to put this, but i found this article pretty funny!
Boomers fighting at the Ritz
Empty-nesters don't shy from condo battles
By Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff | August 4, 2007
On Beacon Hill, a dispute among townhouse condo owners that began with a $12,000 carpet in the common areas has spiraled into a five-year legal battle.
At Burroughs Wharf on the Boston waterfront, condo owners are suing a fellow resident to evict his Labrador-pit bull mix. Neighbors are afraid of the dog, which its owner keeps as a companion to help him with his depression.
And at the Ritz-Carlton condominium towers, residents are suing the developer over what they say are construction defects that, among other problems, cause delays in valet parking.
Wealthy professionals, many of them empty-nester baby boomers, are moving into the city in droves -- with law yers in tow. Since 2000, this influx has helped fuel a building boom of about 9,000 condominiums in downtown neighborhoods. In addition to spending their autumn years in a cosmopolitan setting, some boomers get to rub shoulders with neighbors that include corporate chief executives and popular sports figures, such as Red Sox pitcher -- and Ritz Tower resident -- Josh Beckett.
But after years of being the sole boss of their suburban domains, these boomers are finding it difficult to live in harmony with much-closer neighbors, or to put up with anything less than first-rate work from their condo developers. With their expensive properties and the wherewithal to afford lawyers, these boomers "expect more, and they're more likely to assert their rights," said Boston lawyer Howard Speicher, a partner with Davis Malm and D'Agostine, which has represented condo owners in disputes.
Figures on the number of lawsuits filed by condo owners are not available. But Speicher and another Boston real estate lawyer, Robert Muldoon Jr. of Sherin and Login, said legal disputes between condo owners and developers have increased in the last five or so years.
Few properties in Boston are likely to have a more high-powered clientele than the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton Towers. Located on Avery Street off scruffy Washington Street, near the old Combat Zone, it is an oasis of calm in a bustling downtown, with clean-swept sidewalks brightened with potted flowers. The two-tower 360-unit complex was built in 2001; prices range from around $700,000 for a one-bedroom to $4.6 million for a three-bedroom unit.
But shortcomings in the building seem to be threatening the high-end, luxury life that Ritz tower residents have paid dearly for.
Valets are slow to deliver cars, for one, because the project's developer, Millennium Partners, located the valet parking at the bottom of the underground garage, residents of the South Tower alleged in a recent suit.
Residents of the South and North towers have filed separate suits against Millennium over conditions in their buildings. The legal actions began after North Tower residents assumed control of their building from Millennium in 2005 and hired teams of experts to review the property: accountants to study the books and engineers to inspect the physical structure. South Tower residents did the same when they assumed control of their building.
The top defect in both buildings, according to the lawsuits, is poor waterproofing of the garage area that could lead to deterioration. Other issues include poor insulation of units in the South Tower, its residents charge: Noise and odors can infiltrate neighboring units. And residents of the North Tower calculated, to the penny, what they contend Millennium owes them: $206,973.80 in condo fees for those units it hadn't sold after the residents took control of the building, and other charges, including $39,307 for windows and other equipment, and $158,742 for energy-saving ventilation fans.
"It's not like we're saying this is the worst place in the world, and we've been robbed," said lawyer Clive Martin of Robinson & Cole, who represents the North Tower condo residents. The Ritz is "a complicated structure, and we have isolated deficiencies" that "haven't been resolved."
Indeed, condo owner Jill Silverstein said she and other members of the residents association decided to go forward with the lawsuit because they want the Ritz towers "to be nice." She and her husband moved in in 2004 after two decades in Needham.
Ritz residents "have very high standards," added North Tower board member, Peter Wittenborg, executive director of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts. Previously a Watertown resident, he purchased a 25th-floor condo for $1.1 million in 2003.
Millennium Partners declined to comment. But in a court filing responding to the North residents' suit, Millennium denied it owes for the condo fees and equipment repairs and disputed the residents' contention of building defects. Millennium has not responded to the suit from South Tower residents.
Beyond their front doors, Ritz residents helped successfully block a restaurant, Exotic Grille & Sushi, from opening on the nearby corner at Tremont Street because, they said, it would bring too many customers and traffic, such as garbage pickup and food deliveries, to Avery Street. Both city and state licensing boards this year denied Exotic Grille a restaurant permit.
At the Burroughs Wharf condominiums, trustees representing condo owners sued resident Charles Knopf 3d, who lives in a ninth-floor penthouse, saying he smuggled in a "pit bull," a breed known for "powerful jaws capable of crushing bones." The trustees said Knopf failed to tell them the dog is licensed as a pit bull under a city ordinance that also requires owners to post warnings about the dog on the premises. But Snoop, a Labrador-pit bull mix, is licensed with Therapy Dogs International as a companion for helping Knopf treat his depression. His lawyers maintain Snoop is not aggressive, and doctors submitted letters to the trustees describing Snoop "as an emotional support animal that will assist Charles in coping with his disability."
Snoop "hasn't bit anybody," but condo association members are "worried," said the trustees' Braintree lawyer, Seth Emmer. He said such suits typically boil down to a single factor: Some condo owners "don't appreciate the fact they don't have the rights of full ownership of homeownership they have in the 'burbs."
And at Mt. Vernon Street on Beacon Hill, the five-unit townhouse dispute started when condo trustees sued fellow owners Richard and Jacqueline Abraham in 2002 for allegedly trying to usurp their control by installing carpeting in the common space. In 2003, a judge said the Abrahams did not have authority to install the rug, but the fight continues -- it has spiraled into five suits that fill a foot-thick case file in Suffolk Superior Court.
Richard Abraham said earlier this year that he is "exhausted" by the fight with his neighbors.
A complex, court-approved settlement in August 2004 has failed to bring peace to 101 Mt. Vernon St. The litigation continues today, said trustee William McMullin.
The case, he said, "seems to have taken on a life of its own."
Kimberly Blanton can be reached at blanton@globe.com.
