Cirrus Real Estate won a bankruptcy auction for a distressed downtown Miami redevelopment site with a $77 million credit bid.
An affiliate of New York-based Cirrus, led by Joseph McDonnell, topped other offers during a live sale last week conducted by Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions, court records show. Bidding opened earlier this month with a $72 million bid. The reserve bid was $70 million, a spokesperson for the real estate auction house said.
A Miami federal bankruptcy court hearing to finalize the sale is set for Jan. 9.
The site at 340 Biscayne Boulevard, home to the 200-key Holiday Inn Port of Miami-Downtown, is owned by two entities managed by Brazilian developer Gilberto Bomeny. His entities paid $65 million for the property in 2015. The 10-story hotel dates to 1950, records show.
The owner before Bomeny secured city approvals for a project dubbed Regalia on the Bay. Designed by Arquitectonica, the 82-story, 950,000-square-foot tower was planned to include 374 condos, 120 hotel rooms, offices and retail, along with 500 parking spaces.
The Bomeny entities filed for Chapter 11 protection earlier this year to stave off a UCC foreclosure by the Cirrus affiliate that alleges the site’s owners defaulted on a $70 million loan. When U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurel Isicoff authorized the auction last month, she also approved a $101.5 million credit bid by the Cirrus affiliate, which is the largest creditor.
Judge Isicoff also authorized closing the Holiday Inn upon execution of a purchase agreement, with the hotel’s franchise license set to end on Jan. 5. Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions will receive a $750,000 fee.
Cirrus appears anxious to close the deal, according to a motion filed this week by the firm’s attorneys. Five days after the auction ended, Bomeny’s entities had not finalized the purchase and sale agreement, the motion states.
“The delay disrupts the entire sale process to Cirrus’ detriment,” the motion states. “The debtors have four business days after the PSA is fully executed to file a motion seeking approval of the sale. Given the intervening holidays, absent immediate execution of the PSA, the motion will not be filed in time to provide Cirrus the court-mandated notice and time to respond.”
However, emails attached to the motion show that the real estate attorney for the Bomeny entities asked for more time due to the death of a close friend whose funeral service was on Monday.
Bomeny was a development partner in the Zaha Hadid–designed One Thousand Museum condo tower in downtown Miami, and Regalia Residences in Sunny Isles Beach.
