Gateway at Wynwood technically has a new owner, but a last-minute buyer offering to pay more could end up with the distressed Miami mixed-use building.
A10 Capital, as special servicer for a commercial mortgage-backed securities loan allegedly in default, won the property at 2916 North Miami Avenue in a bankruptcy auction with an $89.6 million credit bid. No other bidders submitted qualified offers by a June 23 deadline, court records show. The auction also included an adjacent single-story bank building at 2914 North Miami Avenue.
However, attorneys for the two entities that developed the 12-story Gateway at Wynwood filed a July 3 declaration stating that Miami-based Beach Hill Capital Investors is interested in buying the mixed-use mid-rise building and neighboring bank property “based upon a significantly higher purchase price.” The entities are affiliates of New York-based R&B Realty, led by Aron Rosenberg, which completed Gateway at Wynwood in 2021.
In a separate declaration filed Monday, seeking more time to negotiate a deal, the R&B affiliates stated that Beach Hill can buy the properties with $35 million in preferred equity and a $77 million mortgage. Even though Beach Hill came forward after the auction deadline, a successful negotiation with the late buyer is “certainly in the best interest of all creditors,” according to the declaration.
Beach Hill’s principals Daniel Rotenberg and Gavriel Naim, and Rosenberg did not respond to requests for comment.
In July of last year, the R&B Realty affiliates filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, court records show. The petition delayed the sale of Gateway at Wynwood and the adjacent property at a foreclosure auction in Miami-Dade Circuit Court that was supposed to occur the same month. In March of last year, Wilmington Trust NA, as trustee for Boise-based A10 Capital, had filed a foreclosure complaint against the Gateway at Wynwood entities. The lawsuit alleges R&B defaulted on a $110 million mortgage debt.
In bankruptcy filings, R&B’s affiliates state that it would require about $10 million in leasing commissions and tenant improvements to lease up roughly 92,697 square feet of vacant office and ground-floor retail space at Gateway at Wynwood. The building has a total of 195,000 square feet of offices, 25,000 square feet of retail and 490 parking spaces.
The R&B entities listed $1 million to $10 million in assets, and $100 million to $500 million in liabilities.