West Palm Beach home that set a record sale price embroiled in lawsuit over alleged defects
In the summer of 2021, the $16.2 million sale of a newly built waterfront house in West Palm Beach was the most expensive deal closed on a single-family home in the city.
It was heralded as evidence that the wealth of exclusive Palm Beach was blurring across the Lake Worth Lagoon onto South Flagler Drive and south of a downtown wooing deep-pocketed financial firms with shiny new office space.
But in more recent times, the three-story paragon of luxury and modern design has been covered in tarps and scaffolding, its splendor tarnished by a lawsuit alleging a lengthy list of defects and involving some of the most high-profile home builders in West Palm Beach.
As many as 50 problems are noted in the lawsuit with the home at 6717 S. Flagler Drive, including multiple leaks, cracks in stucco, multiple broken tiles, a busted generator, water damage in the wine room and a missing vent in the butler’s pantry ice maker.
The house was purchased by a limited liability company named ACB 6717, whose manager is listed as Kenneth Brodlieb, the affluent chairman of East Hills Auto Group, which has five dealerships in New York.
Brodlieb and his wife Andrea had previously owned an ocean-to-lake estate in Manalapan that they sold for $9.8 million a month before the Flagler Drive purchase, and a 10th-floor unit at the luxury West Palm Beach condominium The Bristol, which they sold in 2020.
The lawsuit filed in October 2022 lists the previous owner of the property, 6717 S. Flagler Drive, LLC, as a defendant as well as Glenn-Miller Construction Inc., and David Lawrence Architecture. An amended complaint filed in August added the West Palm Beach-based Aquantis Group as defendants.
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As a result of the failure to fix a final punch list of construction problems and resolve subsequent issues that were allegedly under warranty “plaintiff has suffered, and will continue to suffer general and special damages,” the lawsuit states.
Brodlieb, who also has home in Mill Neck, New York, is asking for in excess of $50,000 for having to find, diagnose and make repairs to the nearly 14,000-square-foot compound. The suit also says there have been consequential damages including moving and storage costs, and the loss of the use of the home.
Daren Rubenfeld, the attorney for the Aquantis Group, said his clients have no comment on the pending litigation. The Aquantis Group's website says it specializes in designing state-of-the-art homes with eco-friendly materials.
Attorneys for Glenn-Miller Construction and David Lawrence Architecture did not respond to messages requesting comment. A message left for Brodlieb was not returned.
But in court filings, the developer 6717 S. Flagler Drive, LLC, says that the problems with the home are the result of “normal wear and tear, weather conditions, and/or hurricane damage” and are not its responsibility. It also notes that the purported damage was "not foreseeable due to the unforeseen nature of the weather and heavy rains in South Florida."
David Lawrence Architecture claims it is not to blame, and that the owner failed to make reasonable efforts to repair or replace any allegedly deficient work. An attorney for the architect also notes in court filings that efforts were made to perform repairs at no expense to the owner, but instead of accepting those offers, the owner “sat on its hands to allow the alleged defects or deficiencies to remain without any repairs or efforts to mitigate.”
Palm Beach Gardens-based architect David Porter, who has no involvement in the 6717 S. Flagler case but has provided expert witness services for similar lawsuits, said water intrusion is a “huge part” of the 142 cases he’s been involved with.
“I play Dick Tracy many times in figuring out who did what, when, and how to establish the timeline and responsibility for the problems,” Porter said.
He said clients sometimes end their contracts with the architect once drawings are done, but that happens less often on high-end builds.
“That does not mean the architect camps out and lives at the job 24/7 watching every nail and screw getting installed,” Porter said. “It may only be a monthly job visit to validate that the contractor's monthly invoices correspond with the percentage of work completed.”
In a Realtor.com listing for the six-bedroom, 10 ½-bathroom home, it is promoted as having “unparalleled design” and as being stormproof.
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“Hurricanes are no match for this new home constructed to last generations,” the Aquantis Group says on its website, which also notes that the home is “virtually indestructible and soundproof.”
The home also has a guest house, a backlit glass elevator, an eight-car garage, a summer kitchen with a retractable roof, a rooftop lounge with its own outdoor kitchen and a heated glass spa.
Porter said contemporary home designs often need more attention to detail because they lack a sloping roof and overhangs that allow water to run off immediately. Also, much of the glass is more exposed to degrading elements such as rain and sun.
Still, “it is not guaranteed that contemporary designs will leak faster than traditional designs,” Porter said.
A host of third-party defendants has been added over the past year in the lawsuit, including roofing, plumbing, elevator and solar companies.
A calendar hearing is scheduled for Dec. 19.
Palm Beach Post staff writer Alexandra Clough contributed to this story.
Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: New home in West Palm Beach sold for a record price in 2021 embroiled in lawsuit
