Proscenium Saga Continues

Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes the following:

Lien involving Proscenium targets land owners

By KEVIN L. McQUAID

Published: Friday, August 28, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.

Owed nearly $370,000 for design work on the ill-fated, 18-story Proscenium real estate project, a New York architect has filed a construction lien in circuit court for repayment.

But Perkins Eastman Architects PC is not going after the handful of limited liability corporations that are tied to the planned $1 billion project in downtown Sarasota and controlled by developer Zeb Portanova.

Nor is the firm suing Portanova, who is now liable for millions of dollars of unpaid debts to Proscenium lenders, contractors and consultants.

Instead, Perkins Eastman and law firm Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP are attempting to encumber the 20 property owners whose seven acres of land that had been slated for the Proscenium and its centerpiece Waldorf-Astoria Hotel -- even though the owners' involvement with the deal ended in May when their sales contracts lapsed.

The filing, in circuit court in Sarasota County, has sparked outrage among many of the property owners.

"They're just trying to play Russian roulette to see if anyone blinks," said Bob Johnson, an attorney representing one of the property owners.

Perkins Eastman, which claims it did $695,347 worth of work on its overall $12.83 million Proscenium contract, notes the property owners were "contract vendors" to a Proscenium group, 400 Tamiami of Sarasota LLC. Under Florida's lien law, vendors may be liable for debts incurred in some cases.

Attorneys for Florida Studio Theatre Inc., which owns 1245-1285 Fifth St., and property owner Cynthia Conway, do not believe the architectural firm's unpaid fee is one of those cases.

In an Aug. 24 letter sent to Shumaker Loop -- the firm that recently acquired Sarasota Abel Band law practice -- attorney John Patterson described Perkins Eastman's filing as a "fraudulent lien."

"The Claim of Lien is totally without merit," Patterson wrote to Shumaker Loop attorney Christian Van Hise. "I would like to assure you that our clients take this matter very seriously and will pursue it accordingly."

Steven Yates, a Perkins Eastman spokesman, declined comment, as did Van Hise.

Neither Portanova nor his attorney at the Williams Parker law firm, Will Schlotthauer, returned calls or e-mails for comment.

For property owners, the lien blocks any potential sale or major renovation until it is satisfied.

Victor Calderon, who owns a shopping center at 1222 Fifth St. and is planning to renovate it, said the lien put his efforts on hold.

"I had attracted a couple of tenants, and this blocked it," Calderon said, adding Thursday that his property was removed from the lien after he threatened a counter-lawsuit.

"I don't think it's unreasonable, after all that's been said and done, to be able to move on from this," he said.

Portanova, his ex-partners Gary Moyer and Karen Cook, and Proscenium partnerships had promised to pay property owners $300 per square foot for their land, bounded by U.S. 41, Fourth Street, Sixth Street and Coconut Avenue. At that price, the land would have brought at least twice the market value.

To keep the deal alive while financing could be arranged, the Proscenium partners even paid land holders roughly $5 million in purchase options.

But this spring, when it became increasingly clear that financing would not come, Portanova secretly began negotiating to acquire a 15-acre tract that had been the site of the Sarasota Quay, at 401 N. Tamiami Trail, for roughly $40 million. When the land holders discovered it, they broke off talks with Portanova. To date, Portanova has been unsuccessful in completing the Quay deal with lender Anglo-Irish Bank plc.

"To me, this is like the body that keeps coming out of the coffin," Johnson said. "It's like something out of a science-fiction horror movie. Every one of the land owners now has to pay somebody to clean up the mess that was created for no reason by Perkins Eastman."