(This story, in slightly different form, originally appeared in Incisive Media's Daily Business Review.)
MIAMI-Boca Developers' ambitious plan to convert a former landfill in North Miami into a mixed-use community has come to an end. Wells Fargo Bank, trustee for Credit Suisse and First Boston, plans to foreclose on the delinquent developer within two weeks to take control of the vacant site of the proposed Biscayne Landing project.
Deerfield Beach-based Boca Developers owes the lenders $198.5 million, according to Peter Hoelzle, vice president of TriMont Real Estate Advisors in Atlanta. TriMont is the trust's special servicer, which manages default loans for the lenders.
"The foreclosure of the lender's $198.5 million mortgage will occur soon," Hoelzle says. "The exact amount and timing shall be finalized in the coming days."
Boca Developers defaulted on the loan more than a year ago. Since then, the lenders tried to work out a solution but negotiations recently ended.
"We've been working through several agreements and proposals with the borrowers to resolve the debt up until this time," Hoelzle says, adding that Boca Developers won't challenge the foreclosure suit. "It will be a consensual, an agreed foreclosure."
Hoelzle met Monday with North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre and City Attorney Lynn Whitfield to alert them of the upcoming foreclosure suit. The city owns the 193-acre tract at Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 151st Street.
In 2002, Boca Developers signed a ground lease with the city to build 5,999 condos, a 200-room hotel and 400,000 square feet of retail space on the land. The company only built 373 units before the real estate market collapsed.
Another lender, iStar Financial, controls about 160 unsold condos at The Oaks. Boca Developers lost The Oaks to mezzanine lender Momentis, an affiliate of New York-based Madeleine LLC and Cerberus Capital Management, more than a year ago. In June, Momentis walked away from The Oaks, leaving construction lender iStar Financial in charge.
Credit Suisse and First Boston are not involved with The Oaks. When they take control of the Biscayne Landing property, they plan to develop the site, which last year was approved for nearly 1.4 million square feet of commercial space. "We will continue to work with the city to look at various options to develop and or manage the property under the existing ground lease," Hoelzle says.
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