Up above it all, sound and fury

Brian McGrory

August 26, 2011|By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist
  • Residents of the Ritz-Carlton have complained about three brothers on the 36th floor and their late-night parties.
Residents of the Ritz-Carlton have complained about three brothers on… (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)

Imagine, for a moment, really making it in life. Imagine suddenly finding yourself with the means - yes, money - to buy the condominium of your dreams in downtown Boston.

So you buy not in just any upscale building, but the Ritz-Carlton, the development that soars high above Boston Common and whose very name is synonymous with luxury. And you’re not going to settle for just any floor, but you want to keep riding the elevator until your ears are popping and the views can’t be any better.

And now that you’re there, now that so much of the world is spread out beneath you, imagine coming face to face with the Talaat family, your new neighbors.

In the nearly three years since the trio of brothers moved into a $3 million-plus unit that their father purchased on the 36th floor, they have become the scourge of the Ritz’s South tower, regularly blaring music during crowded after-hours parties that rage until 4 a.m.

How regularly? The condominium association has had more than 31 complaints about the brothers’ late night antics. At least 27 of those complaints have come in the fragile hours between midnight and dawn. Boston police have been called to the address some 10 times to get the brothers to quiet down.

Police have been punched in the face; each of the brothers has been arrested on charges of keeping a disorderly house; Ritz-Carlton staffers have been harassed and the building has hired extra security guards just to pace their floor on weekend nights - all this according to police reports and documents filed in court.

And still, the music has played on.

It’s played on to the point that the brothers have accumulated thousands of dollars in condominium association fines for their disruptive behavior. The fines double with each incident, - from $500 to $1,000 to $2,000, and so forth. It didn’t matter, because they’ve ignored them.

This week, the case spilled over from the rarefied environs of Avery Street to the decidedly ordinary surroundings of Suffolk Superior Court, where the Millennium Place South Residential Association is seeking to place a lien for $85,000 against Unit 36C.

“I’ve tried to resolve this,’’ said Thomas Dwyer, the well-known attorney representing the condominium association. “I’ve tried for well over a year. All I get are promises. I get no resolution.

“There’s a sense of entitlement here,’’ added Dwyer. “I am willing to tolerate it to a point, but I’m far beyond that point.’’

Advertisement
Advertisement
|
|
|
|