Andrew Korge is aiming to drop $28.2 million for a former Rishi Kapoor development site in Coconut Grove that ignited the embattled developer’s legal troubles.
Bernice Lee, a court-appointed receiver managing the assets of Kapoor’s defunct Coral Gables-based Location Ventures, is seeking a federal judge’s approval to sell a mixed-use building at 3120-3170 Commodore Plaza to an affiliate of Korge’s Miami-based KOR Development, a motion from last week states. In 2020, Kapoor began renovations to convert the property into a co-living and co-working project.
Lee is liquidating all of Location Ventures’ properties and development sites as part of a civil lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against Kapoor, his former company and its affiliates. Filed in Miami federal court in late December, the SEC complaint accuses Kapoor of defrauding $93 million from more than 50 investors of his real estate projects. He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
If U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga authorizes Lee’s request, Korge would assume control of 30 residential and commercial condos along with a leasehold interest for 41,161 square feet of commercial space at Commodore Plaza. He is also offering a $150,000 bonus if the deal closes by February of next year, the motion shows.
The proceeds from the sale would pay off $19.9 million owed on three mortgages from Halpern Family Trust, an entity that owns multiple allegedly defaulted loans secured by other Location Ventures development sites. The trust would also be reimbursed $582,080 for making regular payments on the ground leases, the motion states.
The court filing also noted that the building at 3170 Commodore Plaza is partially gutted due to construction that stopped last year, and that the building has a code violation from the city of Miami’s Unsafe Structures Panel.
In December 2022, a group of minority investors sued Kapoor and the entity that owns the Commodore Plaza site in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The lawsuit, which was stayed as a result of a freeze on Location Ventures assets, accuses Kapoor of making major decisions without approval of at least 70 percent of the development project’s shareholders. For example, he allegedly paid $262,000 fees to a lender to extend the maturity date on a $4 million loan without proper shareholder authorization.
Last month, Lee filed a separate motion seeking permission to sell a 0.7-acre assemblage at 1234 and 1260 Washington Avenue in Miami Beach where Kapoor planned a co-living condominium project that is partially built. Pakman Miami Beach, a Fort Lauderdale entity managed by Prakash Patel, Andrew Beachler and Richard Haestier, offered $17.5 million to buy the development site. Lee is still seeking the judge’s approval for the sale.
In August, Lee sold an unfinished spec mansion in Coconut Grove that Location Ventures was developing for the same price as the Miami Beach assemblage. A trust managed by Miami attorney Alexander Almazan paid $17.5 million for it.
The post Andrew Korge makes $28M offer for Location Ventures Coconut Grove dev site appeared first on The Real Deal.
Read MoreSouth Florida – The Real Deal
