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Article Courtesy of The Business
Journal
By Brian Bandell
Published
January 24, 2014
The owner of the largest undeveloped sites on Miami Beach’s wealthy Fisher Island has bought more time to secure funding for a condominium development.
Fisher Island Holdings was set to lose the 18 acres of mostly vacant land at a Jan. 23 auction, which was ordered after it lost a $139.7 million foreclosure judgment. However, on Jan. 17 Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Beatrice Butchko agreed to reschedule the auction for March 12 at the request of the plaintiff.
FI Properties, a secretive offshore trust based in the island of Jersey in the English Channel and managed by Nautilus Trust, previously acquired the mortgage from AIG. FI Properties also bought the $37 million mortgage on a 6.5-acre property on the north side of Fisher Island known as Par 7, which has the same ownership as Fisher Island Holdings.
In FI Properties’ motion to reschedule the foreclosure sale, written by its Miami attorneys Richard Sarafan and Joshua Alhalel, it said plaintiff will give the officers of the land owner time to, “take any necessary action to commence a large-scale condominium development on the property.” |
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The owner of the largest undeveloped property on Fisher Island is seeking bankruptcy court approval to start a condo project.
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Whether that development happens will be determined in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Fisher Island Investments, the parent company of both Fisher Island Holdings and the Par 7 landowner, was hit with an involuntary Chapter 11 action in March 2011 by a group of creditors who claim the company wasn’t paying its debts.
An ownership dispute of Fisher Island Investments was apparently resolved by a court ruling. On Jan. 17, Fisher Island Investments attorney Patricia A. Redmond, of Miami, filed a motion asking the bankruptcy court to allow the company to restate its mortgages with FI Properties, obtain additional financing for the construction of condo projects and enter into contracts related to that construction and condo unit sales.
The projects would be called Palazzo del Sol and Palazzo del Luna.
Fisher Island, among the wealthiest communities in South Florida, can only be accessed by boat. The land targeted in the foreclosure includes the site of the ferry terminal.
Now that the condo market in South Florida is heating up, this land could show a big rebound in value.
Redmond’s motion said a foreclosure auction would be unlikely to attract a price materially greater than the mortgages the debtor owes, but developing and selling condos should be more than enough to repay its debt.
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