"I wanted to sit on my balcony and enjoy my retirement," a Biscayne 21 owner told the Miami Herald, "but this was my lot in life."
Biscayne 21 is the 23-story, 192-unit tower at 2121 North Bayshore Drive in Edgewater. Two Roads Development offered one owner nearly $1.3 million for a unit in early 2021. The owner asked for about a third more, enough to cover renovation costs and the cost of a comparable bay-view home elsewhere. The owner told The Real Deal there was no response. Five years later, on August 31, 2026, Two Roads paid the holdout group about $50 million combined.
For anyone looking at an older bayfront building on the Biscayne Corridor, the lesson goes beyond litigation. In these towers, part of what a buyer pays for is a claim on scarce waterfront land. The condominium declaration, a document most buyers skim at closing, decides how that claim gets valued if a developer ever wants the site.
Why Edgewater's older towers carry a land story
The Miami Herald described condo terminations as a popular developer strategy on Miami's waterfront, where little undeveloped land remains, and noted that developers typically target older buildings in prime locations. Biscayne 21 shows the economics. The building dates to 1964. In May 2022, an affiliate of Two Roads paid $150 million for a majority of its units, with plans for three towers of up to 649 feet and as many as 750 residences. That September, sales opened for a 55-story, 185-unit EDITION Residences tower, with prices starting at $1.7 million.
So a 1960s unit selling for around $1.3 million sat on a site where new residences were being priced from $1.7 million. That gap is what a buyout pays for, and the declaration decides how it gets divided.
How the case turned on one document
| Date | What happened at Biscayne 21 |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Two Roads begins buying units |
| May 2022 | Majority of units acquired for $150 million |
| 2022 | Termination paperwork filed |
| May 2023 | Holdouts sue |
| 2023 | Residents lose access as the building becomes uninhabitable |
| October 2025 | Florida Supreme Court declines to take the case |
| January 2026 | Judge rules the developer must repair the building |
| August 31, 2026 | Settlement of about $50 million with the holdouts |
| September 2026 | EDITION construction slated to begin; completion expected September 2029 |
The dispute came down to two clauses. Biscayne 21's declaration could usually be amended with 51% approval. Two Roads used its majority to amend the termination rule, lowering the vote needed to dissolve the association from unanimous to 80%. The same declaration, however, required 100% owner approval for any change that altered residents' right to vote on association matters. The court held that terminating the association stripped the holdouts of those voting rights. Attorney Donna DiMaggio Berger summarized the court's view for the Herald: "It's not a procedural tweak. It materially changed owners' voting rights."
The Third District Court of Appeal found the threshold change illegal, and The Real Deal identified that finding as the turning point in the fight. The holdout said the voting-rights argument came from them, and that the whole fight could have been avoided for $600,000 to $700,000 above the bulk price, split between them and one neighbor. The final settlement came to about $50 million.
What the statute guarantees, and what it leaves to the declaration
The 2026 codification of Florida's termination statute, section 718.117, shows no amendment to the section after Chapter 2025-175, and the one 2026 bill touching termination language, HB 657, applied to homeowners associations and died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026. That leaves Two Roads' Taylor Collins still waiting on the "clear, fair and predictable process" he has asked the Legislature to create.
Under the current statute, an optional termination includes these baseline protections:
- Vote: approval from at least 80% of all voting interests, and the plan fails if 5% or more object. A rejection blocks another optional plan for 24 months.
- Price floor: when a bulk owner holds at least 80% of the votes, other owners receive at least 100% of fair market value, set by an independent appraiser chosen by the termination trustee. Wholesale and distressed sales are excluded from the fair market value definition.
- Homestead floor: qualifying homestead owners receive at least their original purchase price, plus a relocation payment equal to 1% of their allocated proceeds.
- Board seats: if the bulk owner elects the board, non-bulk owners may elect at least one-third of it before a plan is approved.
- Challenge window: owners generally have 90 days after recordation to contest a plan on limited grounds, including an inadequate vote or unfair allocation of proceeds.
The floor sits below what a negotiated buyout can pay. The Herald reported that in a forced termination, a holdout's unit is appraised against other condos in the area instead of units in the same building, which typically puts holdout valuations well below what neighbors received in the buyout. The statute sets a minimum. The declaration determines whether an owner ever reaches the statutory process or holds a vote the developer has to negotiate for.
Attorneys still disagree on how far Biscayne 21 reaches. Oscar Rivera, who has represented developers, told the Herald the ruling makes terminations "virtually impossible" where a declaration requires unanimous approval. Carolina Sznajderman Sheir said every case comes down to the declaration's language. Because the Florida Supreme Court declined review, Berger noted that another district could rule differently.
The reserve clock running alongside
Termination language is one part of the picture for an older building. Reserves are the other. Under the 2026 Florida Statutes, apart from a narrow exception for certain multicondominium associations using a division-approved alternative funding method, associations subject to a structural integrity reserve study can no longer waive or underfund reserves for the required components in budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024. Those costs can be covered through regular assessments, special assessments, credit lines or loans, and the last three require majority owner approval. A study paired with a milestone inspection due on or before December 31, 2026 must be finished by that date, which falls less than three months from now. HB 913 lets a qualifying owner-controlled association pause or reduce reserve contributions for up to two budgets through December 31, 2028 so it can fund repairs recommended by a recent milestone inspection.
Biscayne 21 also shows that a large capital spend does not take a building off a developer's radar. Glen Waldman, who represented the plaintiffs, said the owners "had just put $6 million into it," and he described it as a healthy building. The site was the attraction.
What the August numbers say about leverage
The broader condo market currently favors buyers, which is why the declaration question matters. In August 2026, Miami-Dade had 12.1 months of condo supply, still a buyer's market, and a countywide median of $408,000. The two ZIP codes covering most of the corridor have moved in different directions:
| August 2026, condos and townhomes | 33137, Edgewater area | 33132, Downtown area |
|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | $605,000 | $535,000 |
| Year-over-year median change | down 27.1% | down 9.3% |
| Months' supply | 16 | 24 |
| Median days to contract | 95 | 45 |
| Active inventory, year over year | down 13% | up 18% |
| New listings, year over year | down 18.7% | up 83.1% |
These ZIP codes approximate the neighborhoods but do not match their boundaries, and the data does not separate older buildings from newer ones. The Edgewater-area pattern still stands out. Inventory and new listings fell while the median dropped 27.1% and the typical contract took 95 days. That combination points to a slower, more negotiable market in which the buyer of an older bayfront unit has time to request the declaration, any amendments and the reserve study before making an offer. Downtown's 33132 is the opposite case. Supply is much higher, yet units go under contract in about half the time, so buyers there have less room to wait on paperwork.
In a building with buyout potential, the unit's market price reflects the apartment. The declaration determines how much of the land value an owner can claim if a developer arrives.
Quick answers
Does the Biscayne 21 ruling protect every older Miami condo? No. Attorneys quoted by the Herald said the outcome depends on each declaration's language, and because the Florida Supreme Court declined review, a similar case in another district could reach a different result.
Did the Legislature change termination rules in 2026? Not for condominiums. The 2026 statute shows no amendment to section 718.117 after Chapter 2025-175.
What happens to the Biscayne 21 site now? Two Roads planned to begin construction on EDITION Residences, Miami Edgewater in September 2026 and expects completion in September 2029.
This article is market context and is not legal advice. Have a Florida attorney review any declaration before you rely on it.
If you are considering an older bayfront residence in Edgewater or along the Biscayne Corridor, Dora Puig and the Luxe Living Realty team can help you assess the site, the building's reserve position and the documents behind both before you make an offer. Let's Connect.
