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Crane collapse fallout: Tenant sues damaged building owner

Mark Parker

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In October 2024, Hurricane Milton blew a tower crane into a neighboring office building in downtown St. Petersburg. Photo by Mark Parker.

A Tampa-based law firm has sued the owner of a downtown St. Petersburg building that bears its name, nearly four months after a storm-toppled construction crane rendered it uninhabitable.

Johnson Pope Bokor Ruppel & Burns LLP filed the civil lawsuit Jan. 31 against 490 St. Pete LLC, an entity affiliated with Dallas-based Lincoln Property Company. The law firm seeks to terminate its lease and receive declaratory financial relief from the court.

In October 2024, Hurricane Milton’s 100 mph gusts caused a massive tower crane at the Residences at 400 Central’s construction site to crash into the eight-story 490 First office building. The equipment remained wedged into the 240,000-square-foot facility, also home to the Tampa Bay Times and several other companies, for nearly a month.

Johnson Pope – one of the building’s largest tenants – occupied over 19,000 square feet on the seventh floor. The firm said Lincoln Property failed to communicate the building’s future by a Jan. 7 deadline.

“(The) landlord had 90 days from the Oct. 9 casualty event to notify Johnson Pope if it intended to rebuild the building, and if so, whether it could do so in 12 months,” wrote attorney Darryl Richards. “It is also obvious that … (Lincoln Property) cannot rebuild the building within 12 months of Oct. 9, 2024.”

Lincoln Property acquired the three-building complex at 490 1st Ave. S. in 2018 for $39.35 million. Johnson Pope entered an 11-year lease in May 2020.

The law firm pays over $700,000 in annual rent, which increases to more than $800,000 by 2030. According to the recently filed complaint, 490 First’s owners sent a Dec. 30 letter claiming a lack of building access prevented them from providing their rebuilding plans within the lease-stipulated timeframe.

“That statement is not true,” wrote Richards. “The landlord and its property manager have had daily access to the building for months.”

In his letter to Johnson Pope, Ed Price, senior vice president of Lincoln Property, wrote that the crane operator did not fully remove the equipment until Nov. 20. He said the landlord was working to restore “minimum safety requirements” for the city to allow access and reserves the right to provide rebuilding notifications “at a later time due to the delay.”

However, Johnson Pope’s complaint notes that damage remediation crews entered the building “almost immediately.” Richards said the firm considers Price’s letter notice that Lincoln Property cannot repair the building by Oct. 9, 2025. Richards also believes that is apparent without entering the facility.

A sizable section of the fallen 500-foot tower crane left a crater resembling a bomb blast in the building. A ruptured rooftop cooling tower and fire suppression sprinklers caused extensive water damage throughout the facility.

According to the complaint, Lincoln Property claimed that a force majeure clause extended its notification deadlines. A force majeure typically indemnifies one or more parties from fulfilling contractual obligations due to natural disasters.

Richards called that a ploy to force Johnson Pope to continue paying rent for uninhabitable space. He wrote that the firm negotiated the 90-day casualty notice and the defendant’s claims “eviscerate” the agreed-upon provision’s benefit.

Richards also noted that Florida law allows tenants to withhold rent for uninhabitable structures. Johnson Pope wants the landlord or a judge to terminate the lease and for a court registry to hold payments during litigation.

The law firm also seeks reimbursements for attorney’s fees and court costs. In addition, Richards said Johnson Pope would file a discovery motion to determine the landlord’s position with other tenants.

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