Condominium owners in a Roslindale development filed a lawsuit on Jan. 17 seeking about $2.3 million in damages, alleging that the four-story building at 1400 Centre St. isn’t up to code and wasn’t constructed as proposed.
The garage carbon monoxide ventilation and exhaust system has never operated, unit ceilings help sound carry, missing gutters allow ponding, and bathroom and kitchen exhaust vent openings were installed less than 3 feet from some windows, reads the complaint filed in Suffolk County Superior Court.
“The residents paid top dollar for what were marketed as upscale designer units,” the owners’ lawyer, Thomas Aylesworth, said in an email to Boston.com, “and what they got was a building with substantially defective elements, many of which are below industry standards and violate safety and building codes, and they have to be addressed.”
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The work is causing “degradation to various components of the Condominium common areas and facilities, and a diminution in value,” the owners say.
Universal Hub was the first to report the lawsuit against the three defendants: limited liability companies Horizon Development and now-defunct Real Estate Equity Development and Consulting, as well as John L. Sullivan with Horizon.
The units in the development are assessed from $361,100 to $708,300, according to the city of Boston. Residents have occupied the building for only three years, with the first taking moving in in January 2021, the complaint reads. The brick-and-shingle building sits on an otherwise commercial block of Centre Street that restaurants, a barbershop, and a nail salon occupy.
Among the additional complaints: The owners said the building’s developer left out a planned trash room exhaust system, allowing a “very strong smell” to build up and spread. They also said the trash room is missing a fire smoke damper required by code. The damper stops fumes from spreading. And, the basement doesn’t have the sump pump that was included in the plans, they said.
The owners, who are trustees in the building that Boston assessors valued at more than $7.1 million in 2022, say Horizon Development and Sullivan (company manager) violated Massachusetts General Laws, which bans “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce.”
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The lawsuit comes after the trustees tried “for nearly a year and a half to get the developer’s cooperation to cure the sound transmission problems and other building issues,” Aylesworth said in the email.
“Unfortunately, the developer has shown an unwillingness to deal with these serious issues, and the Trustees were left with no choice but to file the lawsuit,” Aylesworth said in the email.
Sullivan did not return voicemails seeking comment. Real Estate Equity Development and Consulting dissolved in 2017, according to records from the Secretary of State’s office.
Outside, the owners’ list of complaints continues.
A tangle of asphalt and cracked slabs of worn-down concrete made up the sidewalk that borders the building in 2022, Google Maps imaging shows. The developer never replaced it with new concrete as planned, the owners said, nor installed planters along Centre Street.
Gutter systems were never installed at the cornice roofs, allowing water to pool on ledges that run above some of the units’ windows, they said.
Traffic bollards were never installed at the garage door, and the garage’s egress door doesn’t open or close properly, the owners said.
Several cracks line the top of a retaining wall at the back of the property, the owners said, and another runs in a foundation wall.
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And there “are a number of installation deficiencies with the fiber cement lap siding at the patio parapet walls”: nails were overdriven into the building’s siding, allowing water to seep through and break down the panels quicker than they would otherwise; there’s a broken piece of siding; and there is sloppy or missing caulking, the complaint reads.
Spray foam was used to close a gap in a foundation wall, they said, and is exposed to the elements.
Inside, the problems don’t end, according to the owners.
Sound transmission in units’ ceilings don’t comply with building code, and Horizon Development’s attempt at remediation, installing soundproofing pads, “completely failed,” the owners said.
Spaces in the basement and on the first floor don’t have heating, which can lead to significant water damage in cold weather, the owners said.
Water heaters are missing the devices that raise appliances’ pH levels to normal, which is required by state plumbing code to prevent corrosion, the owners said. The exhaust systems serving some units’ bathrooms and kitchens lead to openings less than 3 feet from windows, violating state building code, they said.
Fire alarm pull stations sit in the paths of doors, making it impossible to use if one is open during an emergency, they said, and an exit sign required to have two sides only has one.
Repairs to the Roslindale development will cost $2.3 million, the owners said. The plaintiffs have until May 16 to answer the complaint.
“The Plaintiffs have suffered real damages as a proximate result of the deficiencies in the design and construction of the Condominium building and common areas and facilities,” the complaint reads, “as set forth herein without limitation, and they will be obliged to continue to expend substantial sums to correct these material defects and deficiencies and the resulting property damage.”
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