Courts-soaked

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Regan: soaked by condo board
Boston Globe
Jon Chesto
20 July 2016

George Regan thought he was expanding the offices of his PR firm when he acquired an additional condo unit at Union Wharf.

He ended up investing in a legal battle with his condo association.

Regan this month sued the Union Wharf Condominium Trust in Suffolk Superior Court because of extensive water damage in the new unit. He seeks a court order that would compel the trust to repair the damage and prevent water and moisture from seeping into his new unit from the common areas.

He’s looking for an awful lot of money

The condo trust’s attorney, Clive Martin of Robinson & Cole, says Regan’s claims are all wet. Regan, he says, should have been aware that flooding could happen, considering the water table level so close to the harbor: “He’s looking for an awful lot of money, and there’s no way my clients, the trustees, see themselves as responsible or liable.”

The drama is unfolding in an old granite warehouse at the North End’s edge, home to roughly 90 condos, a mix of offices and residential units. Regan bought the office unit in question, which has ground-floor and basement space, in July 2015. He claims the association’s property manager made inaccurate or misleading statements about prior water damage.

After a heavy rainstorm in September, an “agent of Regan’s” checked on the unit and noticed the property management company using a “wet vac” to clean up water in a downstairs hallway next to the unit, according to Jason Allegrezza, finance manager at Regan Communications. The Regan representative entered Unit 111A to see water-damaged floors and walls.

condo’s insurer denied coverage for the damage

The condo association’s insurer denied coverage for the damage in 111A, prompting Regan to sue, he says. And Allegrezza says Suffolk Construction has told Regan that the problem is with the building, not the individual unit.

Regan offered a brief statement when asked about the lawsuit: “The reason this company is successful is I do what I do [public relations work]. Other people deal with the day-to-day operations, and I go along with them.”