Alder at Lake Park, LLC v. Town of Lake Park (Affordable Housing Code-Enforcement Extortion Suit)
Alder at Lake Park LLC, an entity tied to Daniel Goldstein of Bofsa Properties, sued the Town of Lake Park, Florida in federal court in late August, alleging the town's attorney, Tom Baird, tried to coerce a sale of Alder's seven-parcel affordable housing assemblage by threatening that 'all problems would go away' if it sold to a developer he had lined up, then directed a code enforcement officer to issue 34 violations after Alder refused. The suit seeks to enjoin further code fines, compel the town to act on pending development applications for The Kelsey at Park Avenue, and recover damages; Baird has denied the allegations and called the suit retaliatory.
Why it matters
The case pairs a familiar developer grievance, hostile municipal code enforcement, with a far less common legal theory naming a sitting town attorney personally in an extortion and corruption scheme tied to a rival buyer. Developers assembling sites for affordable or mixed-income housing in small municipalities should treat it as a reminder of how concentrated a single official's discretion over permitting and code enforcement can become, and of the value of contemporaneously documenting every interaction that touches on alternative buyers or settlement overtures.
Read the full write-up and case timeline
The complete analysis of this matter, with its procedural history and practical takeaways.
Open the full matterGet an email when a matter like this is filed
Set up a free watchlist for zoning & land use matters in Florida, or for the tenants, borrowers and guarantors in your portfolio.
Create a watchlistMore zoning & land use matters
Other matters in Florida
CREdocket summarizes public court records and reporting; see our sourcing standards and corrections log. Not legal advice. Facing something similar? Contact us.