Lawsuit seeks removal of Grande Bay’s top floors
Grande Bay developers, hit with a lawsuit by a group of condo buyers earlier this year, are now facing a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by property owners directly behind the development. Citing what they say are obvious VI zoning violations, including height and density restrictions, they want the Court to force the developer to remove the top two stories.
You can read the motion here.
Attorney Simone Francis, who represents Grande Bay developers Bay Isle Associates, has not returned our call seeking comment.
December 19th, 2007 12:01
They can remove the top 5 floors as far as I’m concerned.
-Bert
December 19th, 2007 12:36
I don’t think you can just “remove” a few floors of a building. They should have never built it in the first place, but asking them to remove floors is silly.
December 19th, 2007 12:51
I have to agree with ‘hug’, I’m sure there is no way of removing floors.
I’m sure part of the problem here is that the money trail hasn’t yet found it’s way to the right pockets. Unfortunately, once it does I am sure the lawsuit will be squashed.
/just call me cynical
December 19th, 2007 13:01
If they can build it, they can unbuild it. It never has fit that site. It completely knocks the quaint, caribbean look of the waterfront out of whack and out of balance. It screams over-the-top MIAMI BEACH in quiet St. John. Cut it down two floors. I’ll help.
December 19th, 2007 13:27
Grande Bay, thast MIami Beach gone amock mosntruosity, defiles the spirit and style of St John. Yes, if there have been violatiions (for ex. presenting a set of plans and builidng according to another set) on the part of the developers, and if it can be proven that the government agencies with the ministerial duty to enforce zoning and other building regulations ignored their own guidelines, an order to cut the builidng down to size can be issued and implemented. Wer have a similar case going on in San Juan, P.R. with a mega condo called Paseo Caribe.
And talking about violations… what about Sirenusa… similar case.. another monstruosity, the builidng of which has destroyed the peace of its neighbors… constant up and down trips by mega trucks (they even sound their uber-horns and bulldozers, even on Sundays!! They too should be taken to task. We with the plaintiffs well!! (And I heard on Monday that neither condo has had a single closing!!!… Yeah!)
December 19th, 2007 16:46
I see the comment mentioning Paseo Caribe in San Juan. Construction of that $100Million + condo, parking and time-share project has been paralized by Puerto Rico’s government for 60 days while the validity of the permits is studied and reviewed. And the allegations against Paseo are much less weighty than those against Grande Bay. Why cannot Governor de Johng study his options?
I agree with most of the other comments (do look into Sirenusa), but I also know that getting zoning and builidng variances in the USVI is easy…. especially when developer has $$$. Good luck to the plaintiffs.
December 19th, 2007 18:56
Good luck to the plaintiffs……….CTC…….heard not one single closing on Grand Bay and Sirenusance or Paseo Caribe in San Juan?
It does look like Miami bch in so many ways and that is soooooooo sad……
December 19th, 2007 21:13
Caution, bummer commentary below:
It’s obvious to anyone who’s been to Cruz Bay over the past four years that the permitting of Grande Bay was, and will forever be, an instantly regretable experiment. But beyond a general lack of architectural taste and scale, you can’t blame this one on the developers. This project was publically debated and approved by DPNR. No doubt Grande Bay has had a devastating affect on the value of the plaintiffs’ property, but I also believe that at some point they new it was going to happen.
This suit is a waste of time and so is the notion that St John will ever be what it was when you got of the ferry for the first time beit 1954 or 2004. Things change everywhere - usually for the bad….St John is no exception.
Try Les Saintes for the St John of long ago. But beware there’s no sushi retaurant or jeep cams. Otherwise, go to St John and love her for who she is - not what you thought she was.
Oh and while you’re at it; admit to yourself that it’s weird we all spend so much time on this silly little blog.
December 19th, 2007 21:32
It’s a done deal. The $$$ have won. When Warfside was built, the same thing happened then.
Codes were violated. How many stories and not enough parking. CZM? That was also the time when a major influx of illegal immigrants began to arrive.
I really believe one day in the far future these mega condos and huge villas will be the Annaberg plantation of our time. People will come to see the massive ruins we have left behind. With global warming some you will be able to dive to!
December 19th, 2007 21:49
Hey!
(Parker: Oh and while you’re at it; admit to yourself that it’s weird we all spend so much time on this silly little blog.)
December 19th, 2007 22:42
Where’s there’s money…money will rule. Things will continue to change at the expense of the idelic St John. Sometimes in the past 10 years since we have been coming to SJU when peole have asked “where’ STJ was…I was torn between my passion for the island and my sense that too much ‘word of mouth’ advertising would eventually be the downfall of the islands) on a whole. The local economy be damned and welcome more toruists…errr money. Enjoy the so -called quaintness while it last…
99 days we soon come to help the local ecomomy
Dave
December 20th, 2007 08:07
It’s called“Environmental Racism,” which refers to large companies that disregard the communities in which they develop their business through exploitation of whom they consider ignorant locals. Grand Bay and Sirenusa knew the rules and laws won’t be enforced, and that it will take the locals a while to figure out what was happening, and by then, the companies would have made large profits and the concrete monsters have replaced the beauty that was St. John. The developers and companies will than move on
to trash another piece of property in paradise for the big bucks. They do what they want to do, circumventing any
existing laws, breaking laws and restrictions, (by paying off local officials and politicians) and then they innocently claim they “didn’t know” when in reality they did, and part of their business plan was counting on the local citizens to be too stupid and ignorant to do anything about it.
Parker, we all love St. John for who she is but we will never be quiet while she is being ravaged.
December 20th, 2007 09:05
Cruz Bay does have a long history of ‘illegal’ buildings- wharfside was mentioned, [and still adds space and businesses illegally], the catholic church has no parking, dockside with no parking, bj’s building with inadequate parking, [oops- yes some people still remember], and eventually after getting nowhere with complaining, the next ‘big thing’ arises and the last ones are all forgotten.
December 20th, 2007 12:27
Why is it weird that we spend time on a blog? People spend a lot of time not contributing to anything - at least this has a purpose. Blogs are just the evolving world and a newer way to communicate, educate, entertain, and share knowledge. Get with it already!
And I don’t think this blog is silly. I am happy to find out first hand info from someone who is following their dreams on things that involve a place I am fond of and like knowing exists so I can ‘escape’ to it when I want.
I am surprised that a new lawsuit has made it this far. The last lawsuit against them for code violations lost. I will hope for the best.
Teresa
December 22nd, 2007 00:39
You know I don’t necessarily agree or disagree with what you are all saying in the above comments. Building more, getting bigger, noisy, not pleasing to the eye.
But what I don’t understand is each of you are talking about how bad it’s getting and the problems but are you individually doing anything positive to reverse the situation except complain? Just my opinion.
December 26th, 2007 13:16
I wish some environmental group or mega-rich guy or gal would swoop in like they did up near Maho and buy the entire Sirenusa site and restore it to green land. Sirenusa is the real, true eyesore on St. John. At least you can’t see Grande Bay on the ferry ride over until when you pull into Cruz Bay harbour. It is an unfortunate build and it is unfortunate that they did not put the parking deck underground as they said they would, but it is my understanding that they have not broken any laws by doing so. This is not the US- it is a territory and essentially a foreign country. People are expecting too much- they don’t write or enforce laws or codes in the Carribean like they do in the mainland. St. John might have mega villas all over and be very expensive in general, but keep in mind that the USVI at it’s heart is a 2nd world country.
December 29th, 2007 20:23
Much in the way an area in the US is designated as historic and therefore cannot be developed, the federal government needs to step in and take total control over St. John in the name of preserving a national monument (the island of St. John). 32 mill is nothing to the feds to buy Maho and preserve it in the best interest of the US. Another 100 or 200 mil to buy back Siranuisance and Grande Mistake and restore them to green. The Feds should also put a complete halt to ANY construction or development that damages the reef. (green building is ok.) The reef is dying. St. John is being ravaged by developers that only care about the size of their bank accounts. Help! Federal government PLEASE come to the rescue. Take over St. John. This is one case where too much federal government would be a good thing. Left in the hands of the VI government, the island is in peril.