A small business is stepping up a year-old legal fight against its gigantic neighbor, Brickell City Centre, claiming construction activity is dropping potentially dangerous debris on ita Miami property from hundreds of feet in the air. The trial judge refused to grant relief to Frame Art Inc. earlier this year and denied subsequent requests for an emergency injunction. The custom frame shop is now poised to file what would be its fourth emergency action against Brickell City Centre developer Swire Properties Inc.
In the original complaint, Frame Art sued Swire, general contractor Turner Construction Co. and crane operator Maxim Crane Works LLC, claiming falling construction materials hit its walls, roof and support beams.
The brief also said construction activity on the nine-floor garage next door damaged customers’ vehicles and cracked the building’s neon sign. The legal filing alleged cranes were precariously transporting concrete slabs weighing several tons above the Frame Art building and illegally trespassing in its air rights.
“Chunks of concrete large enough to kill a man have fallen on Frame Art’s property,” read an injunction request filed in January as a follow-up to the lawsuit. Another injunction request in March claimed a 10-pound metal plate fell from the construction site and caused new damage to the Frame Art roof.
