Builder sues Bonita Bay Group

By LAURA LAYDEN Naples News

BCB Homes Inc. is suing Bonita Bay Group, saying it has been hurt by the developer’s failure to properly market and operate Mediterra.

The lawsuit, filed in Collier County Circuit Court last week, seeks damages and BCB wants out of contracts it signed to become a preferred builder in Mediterra, a master-planned golf community that straddles the Lee/Collier county lines off Livingston Road.

Timothy Weidle, BCB’s chief operating officer, declined to comment. His company, based in Naples, is one of several high-end homebuilders in Mediterra.

In the lawsuit, BCB also alleges that Bonita Bay, the community’s original developer, “failed to treat all builders within Mediterra equally.”

Gary Dumas, the developer’s vice president of community implementation, said, “Bonita Bay Group values its long-standing relationship with BCB Homes and is working to reach a resolution to this issue.”

The complaint comes after the financially strapped Bonita Bay recently announced a tentative agreement to sell 50 single-family and villa home sites in Mediterra to London Bay, a competing builder in Naples.

“Bonita Bay is exacerbating its marketing failures and violations of its duties of good faith and fair dealing by attempting to make one of the builders within Mediterra (a competitor of BCB’s), the successor developer of Mediterra,” the lawsuit says. “London Bay, serving as the successor developer, has a direct conflict of interest with BCB and other builders within Mediterra.”

London Bay is also named as a defendant in the suit. Steven Wilson, a vice president, said his company’s policy is not to comment on pending litigation.

As the new developer of Mediterra, London Bay would operate and control the community’s sales center, making it the exclusive marketing agent in the community, BCB alleges in its lawsuit.

“Bonita Bay has wrongfully, and in violation of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, attempted to assign Bonita Bay’s lease rights and obligations to London Bay,” the suit states. “Bonita Bay has acted unfairly and deceptively with BCB.”

Bonita Bay leases two lots from BCB for the sales center.

“London Bay has a clear conflict of interest in utilizing BCB’s property to compete with BCB,” the lawsuit says.

Bonita Bay has failed to pay rent and violated other obligations in the lease, according to BCB.

BCB seeks legal advice from the court on its rights. It wants the court to rule that the lease for the sales center is no longer valid, that Bonita Bay has breached the builder agreement with BCB, that BCB no longer has to use centralized sales and that it has no other obligations under its listing and builder agreements, which include paying the developer marketing and other fees.

BCB has alleged violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. It wants to evict Bonita Bay Group from the sales center.

“As of the date of this complaint, Bonita Bay has failed to vacate the property as demanded by BCB and has … repudiated Bonita Bay’s obligations under the lease and Florida law,” the lawsuit states.

The new legal challenge comes as Bonita Bay Group continues negotiations to sell off all its recreational clubs in a fight to avoid bankruptcy. That includes the golf and beach clubs in Mediterra.

So far, the developer has been unable to reach agreements to sell any of its clubs to their members. It is also courting outside buyers.

Bonita Bay owes more than $70 million to a group of lenders, led by Key Bank.

The tentative agreement with London Bay was announced Aug. 28. In a statement that day, London Bay President Mark Wilson said the purchase would solidify his company’s presence at Mediterra, where it continues to build custom homes and build out its Cortile and Lucarno neighborhoods.

“Mediterra is a premier luxury community and we believe the opportunity to expand our presence here is the perfect complement to our activities in the region,” he said.

The purchase price or other terms of the land sale were not disclosed.

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