A U.S. bankruptcy judge has given a consortium of lenders led by Bank of
America approval to shop 700 unsold units at the Everglades on the Bay
condo, along with the debt tied to them, according to court documents.
There is about $200 million in debt on the units at the project, which
was developed by Cabi Downtown. The court has now pushed back the
hearing on Cabi’s Chapter 11 plan to Oct. 27. Cabi gave back the project
to the lending group on May 28, but the agreement allowed the company
to remain as on-site manager for the $300 million project. [SFBJ]

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Developer Cabi Downtown will return to Miami bankruptcy court today to try to stave off a bid
for foreclosure by Bank of America, the construction lender to which
it owes $205 million. Bank of America is seeking to dismiss Cabi’s
bankruptcy reorganization efforts on the 49-story Everglades on the
Bay condo project in Miami and foreclose on the project, instead. Bank of America contends Cabi rented some
units in violation of its own rules and that it failed to conduct
background or credit checks. At least nine units were rented to
convicted criminals, it alleged. Cabi filed for bankruptcy protection
in August. The Everglades project has 849 units in two towers, and
features 60,000 square feet of retail space. Cabi is owned by Mexico’s
largest developer, GISCA. [Miami Herald]

Enrique Arevalo bought what he was told would be a luxury two-bedroom apartment in one of Miami’s newest condominiums, and jumped at the chance to move into Everglades on the Bay North and South.

Now the Aventura project’s developer, Cabi Downtown, is in Chapter 11. Arevalo and about 70 other disgruntled buyers at the same twin-tower project want their deposits back.
According to a lawsuit filed last week in the bankruptcy case, Arevalo slapped down a deposit of $148,000 to buy the $495,000 condo in 2004.
The suit is one of hundreds being filed in South Florida as condo buyers try to salvage deposits out of the wreckage of the boom and bust condo market. Along the way, their attorneys are creatively using various state and federal consumer protection laws to recoup deposits that will be tested through the court system.
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