Residents of the 46-year-old condos within the master-planned Turnberry Marina claim in a new lawsuit that the city of Aventura altered its rules to approve a two-tower project that Fontainebleau Development's Jeffrey Soffer failed to get through in years past.

The condominium associations of Turnberry Isle's North and South towers allege that the city stripped them of their vested property rights that grant them final approval of any changes to the exclusive enclave. They are seeking damages of an unspecified amount and to overturn the city's 2025 approval of a 264-unit luxury development.

The associations, representing 556 residents, filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against the city of Aventura and YCM Acquisition LLC, Soffer's local project entity, on Friday, according to documents shared with Bisnow.

"The Parcel Owners gave valuable consideration for these rights; they bargained for a community where no material change could occur without their approval,” the associations' attorneys from Armstrong Teasdale wrote. “But that bargain has been broken.”

YCM submitted an administrative site plan application for the property at 19500 and 19735 NE 36th Court in September 2021, in which the residents identified "significant issues and objections," according to the suit.

Turnberry Isle, although split among different owners, was developed under one site plan.

The owners on-site operate under a covenant in lieu of unity of title, a legal mechanism that allows one development to be divided into separately owned properties while still adhering to the overall site plan.

The 2012 covenant states that provisions "may be released, amended, or modified from time to time by recorded instrument by the then Owner or Owners of all of the Property," according to the suit.

The associations submitted a letter to the city to make it known that the application could not move forward without their approval, but the city allegedly never responded.

There were reports in 2022 that Soffer proposed demolishing a 50-story hotel, eight tennis courts and part of the existing parking area at the Turnberry Isle Yacht Club to replace it with two residential towers that would total 398K SF with 145 condos, 10 service suites and 320 parking spaces.

“We are excited to move forward and build a first-class residential community in a city close to our hearts," Jeffrey Soffer said in a statement about the plans, the South Florida Business Journal reported at the time.

The suit doesn't mention the 2022 proposal. It does claim that YCM submitted another application to redevelop the parcel in 2023, but like the 2021 application, it "all went nowhere," the filing states.

The city then passed an ordinance in 2023 that allowed submerged land to be used when calculating density, which the association states only affects the single YCM marina parcel.

"Thus, the City Commission, through indirect means, effectively improperly granted YCM the requested variance that it could not secure by direct means without the Associations signing off," the suit states.

Aventura is in the process of reviewing the complaint, a city spokesperson said in a statement.

Turnberry Isle's North and South towers' associations claim that Soffer's status as a successful developer, and the son of the late Donald Soffer — who turned 785 acres of Miami-Dade County swampland into what is now Aventura and founded Turnberry Associates — has aided in obtaining the approval.

Fontainebleau — formed from a split of the family's assets with Jeffrey Soffer's sister, Jackie Soffer — declined to comment.

This isn't the only hurdle thrown up by locals at a project Soffer is trying to move forward on.

The company's Fontainebleau Miami Beach hit a snag in plans to build 11 water slides on its pool deck after significant pushback from locals.

The developer lobbied during the state's legislative session earlier this year in an attempt to bypass the review process through House Bill 399, which limits local control over development. The governor signed it into law in April.