Chinese drywall found in local luxury condos - Boston Business Journal:

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A affiliate, owner of the 230-unitg Peninsula II in Aventura, is testing air quality to see if Chinesde drywall in units is a risk tohumajn health, according to interviews and government record the Business Journal obtained. At the same has reported that The Whitney condo building in downtown West Palm Beachu has notified its residents by letter that Chines drywall is present in the Thecondo manager, Whitney Condominium Association, did not return calls for A spokeswoman for Cerberus affiliate Momentis confirmed that drywalkl from China had been found in the Jen Brown, of New York-basesd public relations firm Weber Shandwick, said she coule not recall whether any of the testint was triggered by complaints from the building’s unit owners or Momentis sent a letter to the estimatedx 100 owners and tenants aftetr media reports said that Chinese drywalol caused damage at other properties.
Brown said the company is workinf on aremediation plan, but had yet to finalize it. The company retained environmental testing firm Enviroj to test air quality for possiblehealtb effects. In tested units, pieces of drywall were also removedrfor testing. “None of the test results to date indicatew air conditions within the units that present a healtu risk to our tenants related toaffected drywall,” Momentis said in an e-maill response to Business Journal “We are working with industry experts to determine how to address and are currently evaluating a numbef of potential solutions to meet the unique needs of each affected unit.
” Momentiws is testing on a case-by-case basis as requested by unit Brown said the company would not provide the totalo number of units tested. Jim a spokesman with Weber Shandwick, said Momentiw found some affected drywall insome units. No unitx were completely finished with the affected he said. Momentis worked with ownerw Peter Berlin and Meryl Berlin to test the air qualityof No. a three-bedroom unit that sold for $871,000 in September 2007, according to Miami-Dade Count y property records. None of the sulfur-containinb gasses “associated with affected wallboard were detecte d in the sample from your according to a March 17 letter notifying the Berlins ofthe results.
The Peninsulaw II case would be the first confirmationb that Chinese drywall was ina high-riser building in Southeast Florida. Other reported cases have been isolatexdto single-family homes, where a smell of sulfur and metall corrosion in air conditioners and electrical wiring are associatedd with the drywall. The , and are investigatinf the scope ofhe problem. Accordingh to media reports, Chinese drywall has been found in a condo towed in Sarasota and a hotel in Peter Zalewski, a principal of , expectsx that more high-rises built between 2004 and when demand outstripped supplies of have problematic Chinese drywall in He is hoping to broker bulk purchasez of contaminated condos at substantial discounts for eventualo gutting and refitting, as builders have done in the past for mold Jeremy Alters, a Miamo attorney with Alters, Boldt, Brown, Rash, said he has a clienf at Peninsula II.
He has filed dozend of lawsuits for homeowners with defective targeting builders and manufacturersz including KnaufPlasterboard Tianjin. “Wse have confirmed that there is Chinese drywall inour units. You can have the drywall and not have the but there’s no Chinese drywall I’ved seen that hasn’t resulted in Alters said. He said a plasterboard manufacturer went intohis client’a unit. “I know of other condop towers that Chinese drywall is suspected to be Alters said. built Peninsula I, which has no reportedc problems withChinese drywall, in and finished Peninsula II in 2007.
It turned the projectr over to themezzanine lender, the Cerberua affiliate, in 2008. Peninsula II’s marble-appointedr lobby and light-colored hallwayss are clean and well with no discernible smell inmany areas, basec on a walkthrough and a random check of severalp floors. A faint sulfur odor was noticeablse onone floor. One owner said she had lived in the buildingg for a year and had not noticerd any odor or damage to wiring or Another owner said she had tested her unit and was waitinf forthe results. She said several of her friends had left the building over fears that the Chinese drywalol could pose ahealth risk.
Momentis is also dealingv with complications at anothetr Boca Developers project ittook over, The Oaks I at Biscayn Landing. The Cerberus affiliate said lender plans to take over the Momentis said it did not work partly due to cumbersome development agreements Boca Developersd struck with the city ofNorth Miami, which owns the land underneathy it. “Momentis has also been working diligentl with localcity officials, lenders and other related partiea to restructure various agreements, includingb those that were made between the original developer and the city of North Miami relating to obligations that have renderede the project uneconomic for Momentisa in the current environment,” Momentis said in a