Photo by: M.O. Stevens
The HOA Detective and his team have been sitting on this story for well over a year, as a result of an agreement with our original source that we would not make public what we know about this latest condominium debacle. Now that the cat is out of the bag, there is no reason to not jump in.
Regular readers of the HOA Detective blog already know what yours truly thinks about highrise condominiums in general, and the sorry statutory state of affairs that engenders lawsuits such as Multnomah County Circuit Cout case 23CV09917, AKA:
“Cosmopolitan on the Park, a Condominium Owners’ Association vs American Heating, Inc., Andersen Construction Company of Oregon, LLC, Block 15, LLC, Hoyt Street Properties LLC, Johnson Barrow, Inc.et al.”
To say nothing about the inexcusable conditions that allow shoddily built, cheap condominium properties to be developed in the first place.
For those readers who are not familiar with the setting, the 25-story “luxury” condominium building which is the focus of the aforementioned lawsuit is located in the inner city urban renewal area known as The Pearl District, or simply “The Pearl,” by some in-the-know locals.
The Pearl consists of an 18 x 9 block city block area totaling .78 square miles which is located at the north end of the central business district (CBD) of Portland Oregon. Along with the Old Town area to the east of The Pearl, the general location has a long, colorful and worthy history. Unfortunately, the most recent history of The Pearl itself has been tainted with cheap new condominium developments, along with a handful of repurposed buildings that have been converted to the condominium form of ownership, some of which were almost 100 years old when they were converted. In total there are 35 named condominium developments which have been completed in The Pearl since the mid-1990s.
This combination of cheaply built new and older converted condominium buildings in The Pearl have provided an ongoing source of work for the local attorneys, and litigation support “experts” that specialize in construction defect litigation. Even in those instances where a lawsuit is never filed, the rattling of the legal sword typically sets in motion a flurry of activity by various technical experts, attorneys, insurance companies, managers, etc., ad infinitum. As my later father would have said: “All makes work for the working man.”
In the case of the Cosmopolitan the situation was elevated to the level of a Multnomah County Circuit Court proceeding in March of 2023. A search of the Trellis.law legal intelligence database https://trellis.law/search has revealed the following details about Case Number 23CV09917:
- Filing Date of case 23CV09917 was 3/7/2023.
- The case is categorized as a Tort – Products Liability claim.
- The case is being heard by Honorable Christopher J. Marshall, of the Multnomah County, OR 4th Judicial District Circuit Court.
- The plaintiffs are being represented by the law firm of Sokol Larkin.
- The nine defendants in the case are being represented by no less than twelve attorneys of record.
- Among the defendants are Hoyt Street Properties, LLC, and Block 15, LLC, developers of the Cosmopolitan; Andersen Construction Company of Oregon, LLC, and legal entity called Shoestring Valley Holdings, Inc. (I kid you not), which appears to be a closely held sub-entity of the general contractor (ACC of Oregon).
Meanwhile, OregonLive.com reporter Jeff Manning’s reports in Cosmopolitan residents battle over Pearl District condo tower’s $31 million repair bill that “Hoyt Street Properties did not return phone calls. Andersen Construction, the general contractor on the project, could not be reached. No one from the Cosmopolitan’s condo board would speak to a reporter on the record.”
Now you know why we say: Because You’re Buying More Than a Home!
