Cachita Universal Studios near Doral could be entering its final filming season after a lender filed a foreclosure complaint against the owner of the television production facility.
An affiliate of Miami-based Altamar Financial Group is suing Alain Piedra-Hernandez, president of HH Coffee Group, which owns the 81,765-square-foot building at 7355 Northwest 41st Street, court records show. The complaint, filed last week in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, alleges HH defaulted on a $4.8 million mortgage.
The lawsuit also names Cachita, the property’s main tenant that leases studio space and equipment for television production, as a defendant. Cachita’s principal, Tony Cortes, referred questions to Piedra-Hernandez, who did not respond to requests for comment.
Altamar and its attorney, Jennifer Hernandez, also did not respond to requests for comment.
HH paid $9.6 million for the 2.6-acre industrial site in 2021, records show. At the time, the company partially financed the purchase with a $4.8 million mortgage from Pacific National Bank.
In January, Pacific National Bank notified HH that it was in default after allegedly missing monthly payments in November, December and January for a total of $132,432, and failing to make an escrow payment of $12,841, according to a letter attached to the complaint.
In March, Altamar acquired the note, and HH still did not make its monthly payments, the lawsuit alleges.
It’s been a rough year for some South Florida commercial property owners as foreclosure actions are on the rise. Most recently, an affiliate of Minneapolis-based global investment firm Värde Partners filed a $77 million foreclosure lawsuit against Affinius Capital, owner of Columbus Center, a Coral Gables office complex.
And in August, Värde subsidiary Trimont sued an affiliate of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania-based Alliance HP for allegedly defaulting on a $59.2 million mortgage secured by One Financial Plaza, a 28-story office tower in Fort Lauderdale. The pending foreclosure complaint was filed in Broward County Circuit Court.
The same month, lender Tig Romspen won final summary judgment against entities managed by Miami developer Caroline Weiss that own a 7-acre assemblage in Miami’s Blue Lagoon neighborhood. A foreclosure auction set for Oct. 8 was canceled, court records show. Tig Romspen alleges that the Weiss entities defaulted on a $13.1 million mortgage debt that ballooned to $17.9 million with accrued interest, unpaid property taxes and other fees. Also in August, Miami-based Coconut Grove-based CGI Merchant, led by founder and CEO Raoul Thomas, lost the 129-key Gabriel Miami Downtown hotel at a UCC foreclosure auction. CGI allegedly defaulted on a $60.4 million loan by New York-based Madison Realty Capital.
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