Golden Beach Developers paid $24 million for the 1.1-acre site at 19505 Collins Ave. in Sunny Isles Beach.

Read in the South Florida Business Journal - Sept. 20, 2011

 

Regalia in Sunny Isles Beach sold for 24MM

Golden Beach Developers paid $24 million for the 1.1-acre site at 19505 Collins Ave. in Sunny Isles Beach.

Instead of selling at a discount to its troubled mortgage, as is usually the case in South Florida, a Sunny Isles Beach development site got dealt for $24 million – significantly higher than its loan.
In 2009, FirstBank filed an $11.7 million foreclosure lawsuit against Regalia LLC, along with managing members Jerold M. Kaufman, Abraham Cohen, Paul C. Murphy and Avra J. Jain.
It targeted the vacant 1.14-acre beachfront site at 19505 Collins Ave.
Regalia received approval to build the 43-story 40-unit condo there, but no major construction had taken place.
FirstBank failed and its assets were assumed by Beal Bank Nevada    Beal Bank Nevada Latest from The Business Journals BRT Realty buys loan on Savoy HotelATP shares go up on production dealKobi Karp faces claims over loan guarantees Follow this company . The new lender recently assigned the loan to International Lending in the British Virgin Islands.
Given the price the property brought, it looks like Regalia is off the hook. The new owner is Golden Beach Developers, an Aventura company managed by attorney Louis Montello.

This confirms my predictions.


Undoubtedly some people believe in beachfront properties.
At the pace that most of the inventory on the beach in South Florida has been swallowed by foreign investors, we shouldn't be waiting too long before prices are on the rise.

Henry B. Nathan is a Realtor at United Realty Group Inc.

Visit my websites:

Condo-southflorida.com

GoldenIsles-homes.com

Golden-Beach-Homes.com

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On target for February 2010 - The Village at Gulfstream Park

The City of Hallandale gives a vote of confidence to a troubled but impressive project

The Village at Gulfstream Park

A February 2010 opening date was announced for this vast project which many expect to be the new center of attraction of the city of Hallandale Beach. So far, 13 restaurants, 17 retail stores, 2 night clubs have apparently committed; roughly about 50% of all the available space.

Hallandale Beach Commission voted 3-1 to approve funding to assist this project, which more than a year late in its completion. Conflictive opinions about the city involvement have been circulating. A majority of the city commissioners are strong advocates of a project that will create hundreds of jobs and attract tourism, visitors, and investment at a recession time, when they are much needed. The issue of taxpayers’ dollars being spent to support a private venue, is strongly debated, and the “City of Choice” ‘s majority belief is that it will be a gamble that will pay great dividends.

The Village at Gulfstream Park is a mix of fashion and home accessory shops, and signature restaurants, outdoor cafes, office space, and projected residential units. 70 stores will cover more than 410,000 square feet of premium retail space. The Village at Gulfstream Park is expected to compete the next-door Aventura Mall, which has been since its creation, the nucleus around which the City of Aventura has focused. Gulfstream, as an open-air Shopping Center, will differentiate itself enough from Aventura Mall to complement rather than compete.

Gulfstream Park, as a combination of Casino, Horse-track, entertainment, and shopping could quickly become the leisure, fashion and entertainment destination for South Florida. Centered in an the middle of a prosperous population, it could become a better alternative to the Hard Rock Casino in Davie.

Gulfstream is announcing some impressive committed restaurants, such as III Forks, Ola Cuba by Chef Douglas Rodriguez, Texas de Brazil, American Pie Brick Oven Pizza, Brio Tuscan Grille, Cadillac Ranch, Cantina Laredo, Häagen-Datzs, Lamborghini Café, The Cheese Course, The Playwright Irish Pub, PrimeBar, and many more.

Among stores who have committed, they count on Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn and West Elm; designer clothing retailers Fender Rock & Roll Religion, Martier, Atelier and Vogue Couture. Two nightclubs: Santanera and Greenhouse Nightclub are expected to attract the young crowd, in search of an alternative to South Beach. Other expected tenants: Next Authentic, Pacific Paradise, Rock Star, Romeo and Juliet Couture, Scala, Scene, The Container Store, Vahalla Menswear, Venetian Salon, Williams-Sonoma, Z Gallerie, and counting.

Mayor Joy Cooper has been a strong endorser of the Gulfstream Park Village, and has brought the full support and partnership of the City of Hallandale Beach.

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Hard to believe!

Associations want faster foreclosures

For condos, lenders are only responsible for six months' worth of back assessments. Policymakers in Washington, as well as at the state and local level, have been working feverishly lately to develop programs aimed at stemming the massive tide of foreclosures sweeping the housing market. Billions of dollars are aimed to be spent, with hundreds of billions more already used to help bail out ailing banks.

But in an ironic twist, as the government tries to get banks to hold off on seizing peoples' property through foreclosure, many of Florida's community associations are worried about the opposite: banks that are not foreclosing fast enough.

That is because the lender does not have to start paying the regular association assessments on a property until it formally takes title at the very end of the foreclosure process. Under current state law, they are only responsible for unpaid assessments going back a certain period of time -- meaning any process drawn out beyond that equals lost revenue for associations already struggling financially.

For condominiums, lenders are only responsible for six months' worth of back assessments, or up to 1 percent of the unit's value. Single-family homes are a little different, where banks have to pick up the tab for an entire year's worth.

Some community associations -- especially condo associations -- have been complaining that banks are initiating foreclosure proceedings against owners, but then taking their time when it comes to actually pulling the trigger to take title. In other cases, the courts are so backed up with foreclosure cases that getting to a resolution simply takes more time than ever before. As a result, the process frequently goes beyond the six-month liability period for condos, and leaves condo associations with months' worth of assessments that will never be repaid. For homeowners associations, the problem is less intense, but still a concern.

The Community Association Leadership Lobby, a lobbying group that represents about 4,000 community associations in Florida, plans to push for new laws during the upcoming legislative session that would shift more of the responsibility for unpaid assessments to lenders.

"The situation financially for many associations is bad, and it's getting worse," said CALL's co-executive director David Muller, a Sarasota lawyer. "They need help to relieve the strain of unpaid assessments from foreclosures that is eating away at their bottom lines."

Muller, also a community association attorney with Becker & Poliakoff, said at a time when banks are receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in federal bailouts from taxpayers, it was appropriate for some of those funds to be used to help aid associations. He did not advocate direct infusions of taxpayer money that would go to associations, but rather said indirect support would come by requiring banks to take on a larger share of unpaid assessments when they foreclose. Muller admitted that the state's banking associations would likely not be thrilled about his proposed initiative.

A new statewide survey CALL conducted of more than 1,500 of its members found considerable financial pressures being caused by the foreclosure crisis. More than 65 percent of respondents living in communities hit by mortgage foreclosures said they were "causing a revenue shortfall that is placing a burden on the association's finances," according to CALL. Nearly 38 percent said the foreclosure-related revenue losses resulted in "postponements of major capital investments in upkeep or repair" of buildings and other property.

The survey also found more than 50 percent of respondents reported more vacant units compared to a year ago thanks to foreclosures. Nearly 70 percent of those reported vacancy rates from 1 to 9 percent as a direct result of foreclosures, while 15 percent had such a vacancy rate greater than 10 percent. Nearly 60 percent of respondents said that getting lenders who had been slow to foreclose to pay unpaid assessments "has proven difficult." Looking ahead, things were not looking any better. Three-quarters of the CALL survey's respondents expected the foreclosure situation would not improve, and may even get worse, over the next year.

From the Sarasota Herald Tribune - March 2, 2009

Henry B. Nathan is a Florida Realtor at United Realty Group Inc.Visit my website: http://www.condo-southflorida.com/where you can search for Aventura Condos, Florida Condos,