Condo Corporate Investor Allegedly Pushing Resident-Owners Out

Resident-owners of a South Shore condominium are accusing a condo corporate investor of pushing them out. The investor has plans to sell the condo and turn it into a rental rebuilding.

How a Condo Corporate Investor Gained Power

The Silver Coast Citadel is a 98-unit condo building located on South Shore. With its great location and beautiful yellow-brick courtyard design, the building was a prime housing option.

However, after the housing crash, more than two dozen units went into foreclosure. This put the condo association in the red, as associations like Silver Coast Citadel relied on owners’ fees to fund maintenance and other costs.

In 2014, residents felt relieved when an investor, Icarus Investment Group, bought units in the building to lease out. That year, Icarus bought two units. It then bought five more units the following year. Out of those five units, four sold at foreclosure.

This continued on. By 2019, Icarus and an Icarus-managed LLC owned nearly half of the building’s units. This gave Icarus almost half the voting power in the entire association.

A Corporate-Run Condo Association

The condo corporate investor soon took charge, with Icarus employees taking roles on the board that were previously filled by resident-owners. Other changes followed.

Board meetings were no longer held in person but through Zoom. During these meetings, members were only given a chance to speak in the last few minutes, remaining on mute all other times. Sometimes, residents wouldn’t even get into the meeting because the host failed to let them in or left them in the waiting room.

According to state law, condo associations must hold annual elections. However, the Icarus-populated board has not conducted annual elections since 2019, as per members.

In 2022, Icarus aimed for the deconversion of the condo into a rental building. The investor withheld information, though, that the building was in legal trouble with the city since 2019 over building code violations.

Ultimately, Icarus took the listing down, but it did not address repairs for the most serious violations.

The board moved to levy two hefty special assessments to pay for the building repairs. This has led the owners to believe that Icarus is trying to push them out of their homes.

Not the First

Condos have long been an affordable option for housing, but it has since become unstable and expensive. Silver Coast Citadel is not the first to snap up multiple units in a condo in an attempt to take over leadership and management.

While condo deconversions have become more uncommon due to high interest rates, it remains a problem for several communities. Unfortunately, outside of the courts, there is not much that can solve the issue.

To push through with deconversion, Icarus would need 85 percent of the vote, but it can only amass 56 percent. No owners plan to sell. Even if they did, it would be difficult to sell at a fair price considering the building has a pending lawsuit with the city.

A court filing from May 23 shows that the city is petitioning the court to appoint a receiver for Silver Coast Citadel. If the court approves the petition, the receiver would take control of the condo and have the ability to enforce the necessary repairs.