The developer of South of Fifth Miami Beach Condos has been hit with a $78.9 million foreclosure action in iStar FM Loans, a subsidiary of iStar Financial(NYSE: SFI), has filed a.
According to Miami-Dade County Circuit Court records complaint, filed October 1st, is against BR Villa Luisa LLC and guarantors Michael Samuel, R. Ramin Kamfar, Romano C. Tio and Marc Sznajderman. It targets the 25 unsold Miami Beach condos in the 28-unit oceanfront building at 125 Ocean Drive, which was completed this year.
Samuel sold his interest to the other partners in the mixed-use Midtown Miami project. He didn’t immediately return a call and e-mail seeking comment.
In the seven-story building there were only three Miami Beach condos sold. One was a first floor unit for $400,000, a second floor unit for $1.3 million, and a top floor unit for $6.8 million.
The managing director of Miami-based Baybridge Real Estate Group, Adam Greenburg, said the developer’s asking price is $1,300 a square foot in this stressed Miami real estate market.
Greenburg said, “It’s a very solid project, but the price point of the units is tough in this market. There aren’t very many people buying super high-end units in a new building like that.”
He also added that if South of Fifth’s prices were cut to $800 a square foot, it would sell fairly quickly because of its great location.
BR Villa Luisa has already faced one foreclosure over this site. In 2006, Capmark Financial filed a foreclosure action against the developer related to its $77.6 million mortgage. Freemont Savings and Loan bought the mortgage from Capmark, which dismissed the case, a few months later. Freemont later sold its loan portfolio to iStar.
Attorney Nathan Nason, who represents iStar in the lawsuit, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.
Contributed by MLR Realty
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