Four Wynwood commercial buildings owned by a Zach Vella-led partnership are facing foreclosure less than a year after they were purchased.
On May 21, an affiliate of Seattle-based Fairview Asset Management sued an entity managed by Vella, Tosh Berman in Aspen, Colorado, and Michael Tanha in Las Vegas. The suit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, alleges the partners defaulted on a $8.3 million mortgage debt, including interest and fees. Vella is a Los Angeles-based real estate investor and developer.
In July of last year, the Vella-led entity paid an affiliate of New York-based East End Capital $12.3 million for the properties at 325 Northwest 24th Street, 339 Northwest 24th Street, 282 Northwest 25th Street and 292 Northwest 25th Street in Miami, records show. Combined, the buildings have roughly 16,000 square feet of retail space.
The buildings on 24th Street are vacant, while the properties on 25th Street are leased to restaurants Parada 282 and Bartaco.
Vella and Raina Shipman, the attorney for Fairview, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Vella-led entity obtained the mortgage at a 12.5 percent interest rate, the lawsuit states. Vella and his two partners personally guaranteed the loan, and the trio are also named as defendants in the foreclosure complaint.
In November, Vella and his partners ran into trouble when their entity allegedly stopped making monthly payments and allegedly failed to resolve “various liens encumbering the property” at 339 Northwest 24th Street, the lawsuit states.
Four months later, the partnership entered into a forbearance agreement, but violated the terms in April by failing to pay the allegedly delinquent mortgage payments, as well as unpaid property taxes for 2024, according to the complaint. The Vella-led entity also allegedly did not resolve the liens and allegedly failed to obtain all the necessary licenses and registrations for the 339 Northwest 24th Street property.
Vella’s eponymous firm has developed mixed-use projects in New York and Los Angeles. In 2022, Vella and Miami Beach-based private equity firm Arc PE bought a majority stake in a Miami River development site for $21 million. Vella’s minority partners are Miami developer Avra Jain and Miami-based real estate investor and tech entrepreneur Robert Zangrillo.
The 5-acre assemblage at 555 Northwest South River Drive is approved for a mixed-use project with a hotel, an office building, retail and a marina.
Vella is also a partner in Zangrillo’s Magic City Innovation District, a master-planned community project in Little Haiti that would entail a 30,000-square-foot studio, a 15,000-square-foot innovation center for startups and co-working tenants, retail spaces, and 2,670 apartments in buildings up to 25 stories tall.
