By Susan Taylor Martin

October 13, 2014

At 36 stories, Signature Place is St. Petersburg’s tallest condominium tower and one of its most striking. It’s also a building riddled with dozens of construction and design defects, according to a new lawsuit. The Signature Place Condominium Association says it is spending “large sums” of money to repair problems ranging from cracks in exterior walls to improper fire wall installation to excessive noise from air-conditioning and heating systems.

At least some of the alleged defects were hidden by building components and finishes and thus were not discovered by owners “until after the purchase and occupancy of the unit,” said the lawsuit, filed last week in Pinellas County Circuit Court.

Signature Place, at 175 First Street S, was announced in 2005 at the peak of the real estate boom and neared completion just as the market collapsed in 2008. Plagued by slow sales, developer Joel Cantor had to slash prices and finally resorted to an auction to unload dozens of the tower’s 244 units. Prices, though, have recently rebounded in St. Petersburg’s hot downtown condo market.  Read more: