A New York-based real estate investment firm has won a bank auction and court approval to buy the debt of downtown Miami's Everglades on the Bay condominium towers.
Rockwood Capital paid about $142 million for the note, according to South Florida real estate consultancy Condo Vultures. But the sale of the 849-unit project on Biscayne Boulevard did not go smoothly, with the developer, another bidder and the bank holding the debt battling over terms.
Developer Cabi Downtown LLC -- which faced a 2009 foreclosure suit by Bank of America on a $209 million construction loan -- claimed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court this week that Rockwood went behind its back to cut a deal with the lender, after pledging to deal directly with the developer. Elias Cababie, managing member of Cabi, claimed he had secured a higher bid from a San Antonio-based private investment group, court documents show.
Cabi had been juggling negotiations with Rockwood and San Antonio-based Lynd Company this summer, taking representatives from both groups to see the property's twin 49-story towers.
According to Cababie's sworn statement, sometime in July, Lynd put in an offer for the note, and Cabi solicited Rockwood to make a counteroffer. Rockwood responded by asking for more information about the property and then abruptly cut communication with Cabi, Cababie claims.
Rockwood execs tell a different story: ``Before we had completed our due diligence, [Cabi] informed Rockwood that it intended to accept a different entity's proposal and to end negotiations with Rockwood,'' said Dwight ``Arne'' Arnesen, Rockwood's senior managing director of portfolio and asset management, in a sworn statement. Arnesen also said Rockwood had been willing to pay more than Lynd's initial offer.
Attorneys for Cabi and Bank of America did not return calls for comment. The purchase may be the target of future litigation from Cabi as well as Lynd, who lost the bid, said Peter Zalewski, principal at Condo Vultures.
One motivation for the drama: The building offered what may be the last sizable bulk purchase of new condos in downtown Miami, where developers have built more than 20,000 units in the last seven years.
Developers have sold just over 175 units at Everglades, and there are hundreds of renters in the building, which was completed about two years ago.
The purchase price amounted to at least $191 per square foot, Zalewski said. ``I think Rockwood paid too much,'' he said. ``But with time, that number will end up looking better and better.''
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/29/1897264/firm-can-buy-debt-of-downtown.html
BY TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA
tolorunnipa@MiamiHerald.com
The Criscitos has been selling South Florida luxury and commercial real estate for over a decade and has sold over $1 billion dollars of property. They work as a multi-lingual team speaking english, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. They carved out a niche as a leading boutique real estate company with two distinct divisions -residential and commercial- both personally overseeing by Marcela and Anthony Criscito.
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