Andrew Korge terminated his firm’s $28.2 million offer for a stalled mixed-use project site in Coconut Grove tied to disgraced developer Rishi Kapoor.
An affiliate of Korge’s Miami-based KOR Development walked away from the potential purchase of the development site at 3120-3170 Commodore Plaza, a year after reaching an agreement with Bernice Lee, the court-appointed receiver overseeing the liquidation of assets belonging to defunct Location Ventures, previously led by Kapoor, and its related entities, according to an Oct. 15 notice in Miami federal court.
Last year, Lee was appointed Location Ventures’ receiver stemming from a pending civil lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission against the firm and Kapoor that alleges he misappropriated $93 million in investor funds meant for real estate projects. In November, the SEC and Kapoor reached a settlement, but Lee is still in the midst of selling properties in order to pay creditors.
In a phone interview, Korge said finalizing the deal was taking too long, and he has shifted careers from real estate to technology. “We made that offer in what feels like the last century,” Korge said. “I regret that this didn’t move a little more smoothly. I would have bought it, but I just can’t wait. Life goes on.”
Lee declined to comment.
Korge was going to buy the ground lease and the unfinished project at 3120-3170 Commodore Plaza, which Kapoor had planned as a co-living, co-working office, retail and restaurant complex. However, Korge’s purchase was delayed by a series of objections from a lender, the owner of the land underneath the project and a group of investors who have a stayed lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court against the Location Ventures affiliate that owns the project, court filings show.
Lee now plans to enter into a sale and purchase agreement with LDHC Holdings, an affiliate of the lender, Halpern Family Trust, which has a pending foreclosure lawsuit against the Location Ventures affiliate that owns the project. The Halpern trust has also been making ground lease payments to the landowner, David Martin’s Coconut Grove-based Terra, according to recent motions. In April, Terra listed the 0.4-acre parcel with an asking price of $18.9 million.
LDHC Holdings agreed to pay the same price Korge offered, consisting of a $27.4 million credit bid, plus $800,000, court records show. The credit bid represents the mortgage principal, interest and fees allegedly owed by Location Ventures.
