Almost three years after developer Centex Homes’  264-residence development was set for completion, the project has restarted, with a new end date in 2016. “Just about the time they were about to get started, the bottom fell out of the economy,” said Steve Braswell, who made a deal to end a long-term lease he had on a remote portion of the property. “Basically nobody was building any homes.” A partnership between Centex and Tousa bought the site in 2005 for $62.4 million, and while some work was done, including water and sewage lines, construction stalled. The project is just south of the Mall at Welington Green. [Palm Beach Post] [more]

Starwood Land Ventures nearly quadrupled the number of residential lots in its portfolio last year, the Bradenton-based real estate investment firm announced today. Its largest transaction of the year was the $81 million acquisition of bankrupt home builder Tousa Homes, followed by the acquisition of Summerlake Development for $27.9 million. Since 2007, the company, which now has an inventory of 16,000 residential lots, has poured $250 million into residential land investments, and has closed on more than 13,500 lots in the past 15 months. “We have built momentum and will continue to invest in high-reward portfolios,” Starwood’s West Region President, Mike Forsum, said in a statement. TRD

Hollywood-based home builder Tousa, which is in the process of liquidation after filing for bankruptcy in January 2008 with $2 billion in debt, wants to give its remaining 29 employees and executives $1.7 million worth of bonuses. The proposed incentive bonus program, which is pending approval in bankruptcy court, calls for payments of between 10 percent and 50 percent of base salaries. Tousa has asked the bankruptcy judge to schedule a motion for approval at a June 16 hearing. [Miami Herald] 

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Hundreds of construction contractors who did business with Hollywood-based Tousa could now have to repay funds they received from their work with the company. In the 90 days before Tousa filed for bankruptcy in Jan. 2008, more than 1,000 companies in the state did business with it. Tousa had assets of $2.3 billion and debts of $1.8 billion when it filed for Chapter 11. Chris Poe of Concepts in Greenery said it made $500,000 from the company working on a development in Engle Homes, money it may now have to give back under federal law. Starwood acquired the company’s portfolio in February for $81 million. [Sun Sentinel] Comments

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Lennar has picked up 2,700 residential lots in Florida from Starwood Land Ventures, the Bradenton-based investment arm of Starwood Capital Group, which just yesterday closed on the $81 million purchase of 5,449 such sites from bankruptcy homebuilder Tousa. Starwood had called the portfolio “the most highly sought-after portfolio of residential real estate in Florida since the economic downturn began.” Lennar’s share of the sites are located in first-time homebuyer, master planned, active adult and premier golf course communities in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Southeast Florida. The Miami-based homebuilder plans to build single-family homes, townhomes and garden villas on the lots, whose prices will start in the low $100,000 range. TRD

Bankrupt home builder Tousa has closed on the sale of 5,449 residential lots and 36 model homes to Starwood Land Ventures, the Bradenton-based investment arm of Starwood Capital Group, which paid $81 million for the portfolio. Starwood won a January auction for the properties with a stalking horse bid, and won approval from a U.S. Bankruptcy Court late last month. Starwood, which now owns roughly 13,100 home sites in Florida, is calling the investment “the most highly sought-after portfolio of residential real estate in Florida since the economic downturn began.” It plans to start selling its new lots soon and said that it is already talking to home builders about contracts that would allow them to purchase sites and begin construction. Mike Moser, East Region president of Starwood Land Ventures, said in a statement that he expects those deals to close quickly, and that the properties have garnered the interest of nearly all major Florida home builders. TRD

The economic downturn has all but crippled the commercial real estate market, leaving private equity groups and other strategic buyers to begin exploring the advantages of purchasing commercial properties out of bankruptcy.

The opportunities are plentiful, though the market is still
establishing its pricing scale, and few buyers want to tip their hands about how much they would pay. But the bankruptcy filing rate for South Florida businesses increased 28 percent in 2009, according to statistics reported by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.

No company wants to file for bankruptcy, but there is a silver lining for strategic buyers, according to Kevin Lamb, a corporate attorney and shareholder at the Gunster law firm in West Palm Beach. Strategic buyers with funds at the ready in mergers and acquisitions, he said, can cherry-pick the company’s real estate assets while leaving the liabilities behind. [more]

At arguably one of the worst times to put 1,600 new Broward County homes on the market, Armando Codina and Jim Carr of CC Devco Homes believe their Monterra community will draw new buyers to Cooper City. Monterra is the first giant housing development launched in Broward County since the housing market collapsed. Construction began last week on the model homes, and finished products will range from the low $200,000s to around $400,000. The developers said they can stay competitive against short sales and foreclosed properties while delivering high-quality new housing. Monterra began as a project of bankrupt builder Tousa, and CC Devco purchased the site, which had several dozen homes already built, for $50 million and assumed another $167 million in debt. [Miami Herald]

A further twist in the long, drawn-out bankruptcy of home builder Tousa occurred this week as the creditors’ committee for the Hollywood company sought to sue another group of joint venture partners. The creditors already brought about a judgment against a group of secured lenders after claiming they received money through fraudulent transfers; they now want to sue Arthur and Edward Falcone, whose company was the joint purchaser of builder Transeastern in a 2005 deal. Kendall Land Development is also a target of the committee’s planned lawsuits. Tousa filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2008. [Miami Herald]

The legal tussles surrounding the lengthy, messy bankruptcy of builder Tousa got a bit of clarity last week, when a judge said Starwood Land Ventures could collect a $1.8 million breakup fee if it failed to acquire the Hollywood-based homebuilder. But only a bit, said commercial lenders, who are pondering how the case could affect the business more broadly.

The fee ruling followed an earlier commentary from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Olson, who slammed the lending and due diligence practices of Tousa’s syndicate of prominent banks. He said Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America had committed wrongdoings so egregious as to be called a “fraudulent conveyance,” and ordered that they pay back Tousa’s subsidiaries, whose assets secured the loan, more than $400 million.

Olson’s 182-page ruling, issued in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, is being appealed. Spokespeople for each bank declined to comment, citing the pending appeal.

The rise of Starwood as a likely new owner of Tousa is the ultimate aim. While the breakup fee could serve as a further inducement for Starwood, a Bradenton-based residential real estate investment firm, Olson’s comments make many lenders nervous. The detailed ruling attacks some of their basic lending practices, including the hiring of solvency experts. Tousa declared bankruptcy in January 2008. [more]