For 2026, the BK1 board raised its legal budget from $60,000 to $100,000.
BKMA raised its own legal budget from $12,000 to $75,000—because they must defend themselves against the lawsuits.
On top of that, BKMA’s office rent increased from $53,640 to $98,400 as a direct result of the lawsuit involving Office 205.
According to multiple BKMA board members, one Condo Board President proudly celebrated this rent hike during the BKMA budget discussion—smiling and pointing to herself with both hands when it was mentioned at their Budget approval board meeting.
Total additional cost to owners: $147,760
That is $147,760 of unnecessary dues increases—money we are all being forced to spend on litigation and retaliatory actions that provide no benefit to the community.
Clarification
The point of this post is to bring to your attention to the decisions our board is making “Out of the Sunshine” aka not in front of you the owner / members. Personally this is a huge hit on our wallets to strengthen a wall we do not see.
Remember
We are beholden to a set of Bylaws created in the early 1980’s. The analogy; this is our constitution. While it sounds unfair to us, there is little to support our claims. We need a new seawall, just like our buildings require constant maintainence and parts replaced so does the seawall.
Another Lawsuit We Are Likely to Lose
This seawall case is now on its second law firm:
- The first firm argued the seawall replacement was unnecessary.
- The second firm argues that if it is necessary, either Swire or the City should pay.
- We pay for both sides of the legal fight, to our association to fight and to the BKMA to defend.
But this position misunderstands the realities involved.
Swire Will Fight This Hard — and They Have the Resources
Because Swire is a large public company with substantial financial strength, many assume they should simply pay for the seawall—similar to expecting the wealthiest person at the table to pick up the lunch tab. But that same financial strength also means they can and will fight this lawsuit aggressively and indefinitely.
At what point does it stop?
The only guaranteed winners in that scenario are the lawyers.
Meanwhile, we continue paying the legal costs on both sides.
The City Argument Is Even Less Realistic
If the City were responsible for our seawall, they would also be responsible for:
- 88 miles of Miami coastline, including
- 59 miles of private-property seawalls
- 515 miles of Miami-Dade County shoreline, including rivers and waterways
- Much are beaches
If the City or County suddenly had to build seawalls everywhere, local taxes would skyrocket. The construction process would fall into the hands of politically connected contractors—not necessarily the most qualified.
This argument is not just weak—it is dangerous, unrealistic, and ultimately doomed.
Bottom Line
We are spending $147,760 more next year because our board keeps choosing lawsuits over solutions—while we are funding both sides of every fight.
