Palm Beach County’s oldest mall is officially getting transformed into an outlet mall, WPBF 25 News reported, the only one between Vero Beach and Sawgrass. Developers New England Development, Eastern Real Estate and Lubert-Adler acquired the site for $40 million in June, and confirmed previous reports today that they will redevelop the 80-acre, vacant site on Palm Beach Lake Bouelvard in West Palm Beach, and call it Palm Beach Fashion Outlets. They expect to open in 2013 and land Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus’ Last Call and Nordstrom Rack, among others, according to West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio. [more]

The sprawling, overextended empire of Corus Bancshares loans, many of
them in Florida, is attracting interest from major distressed debt
investors. Thomas Barrack, who first made his fortune in the aftermath
of the savings and loan crisis; Barry Sternlicht, the man behind the
Starwood empire; Jay Sugarman of iStar Financial, the public real
estate giant; and New York developer Stephen Ross, sometimes called the
King of Columbus Circle, in league with Lubert-Adler, a big property
investor in Philadelphia, are all mentioned as possible buyers of these
troubled loans and tattered projects. Early this year, federal
regulators ordered Corus to raise capital or put itself up for sale. It
was unable to do either. In late June, the bank reported that its
entire capital base had been wiped out. Auditors Ernst & Young have
walked away, and the stock faces delisting from the Nasdaq exchange. [more]

Part two — Developments fail, banks follow, the blood begins flowing.

The trigger to the increasing velocity of recent bulk deals of South Florida real estate assets is the culmination of a chain of events in this historic boom/bust cycle.

Florida’s population is decreasing. Unemployment has more than doubled and continues to increase. According to the Clerk of Courts in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, foreclosures have multiplied exponentially to a projected 200,000 filings in 2009.

Pre-construction deposit holders on condominium units are canceling closings on completed units in the thousands. Project scale foreclosures and lawsuits between lenders and developers are accelerating. Buyers seeking refunds of deposits are jamming the court houses and creating a cottage industry for law firms.
[more]