A joint venture between developers Ugo Colombo and Shoma Homes is facing a $16.2 million foreclosure lawsuit.
SHEDDF2-FL1 LLC, an affiliate of Safe Harbor Equity, is seeking to foreclosure on Coral Gables Luxury Holdings LLC, the company that planned to develop the Collection Residences at 250 Bird Road, 4101 Salzedo Street and 4112 Aurora Street in Coral Gables, a lawsuit filed on Friday shows.
Florida Community Bank provided the original loan on the property in late 2013, and sold it to the Safe Harbor affiliate in August 2017, records show. Safe Harbor is a boutique private equity firm that focuses on performing and non-performing loans, defaulted debt and distressed real estate, according to its website.
The $16.2 million loan was due in December 2016, and the foreclosure suit alleges the plaintiff is owed the full amount of the mortgage, plus fees and interest. Ralph Serrano, managing director of Safe Harbor Equity, said in a statement that “while we are sometimes forced to file to recoup our mortgage as a course of business, that is not an indicator that settlement discussions are not ongoing, or that progress is not being made to the benefit of all parties.”
Masoud Shojaee, founder of Shoma Homes, and a spokesperson for Colombo could not immediately be reached for comment.
Colombo and Shojaee’s partnership blew up in November 2015. The developers planned to build the Collection Residences, a mixed-use project with 128 condos and retail space at the 2.8-acre site.
In early 2016, Shojaee’s Shoma Coral Gables filed suit against Colombo’s Gables Investment Holdings LLC; Colombo, individually; and The Collection LLC, Colombo’s Coral Gables luxury car dealership, alleging breach of contract, among other counts.
In June 2017, months after Avison Young was hired to market the development site, a judge issued summary judgment against Shojaee and Shoma — and in favor of the defendants — on Shojaee’s alleged $56 million in lost profits claim. He later dismissed Colombo as a defendant in the case regarding interference in the operating agreement, and also dismissed Gables Investment Holdings as a defendant.
As of July, Baptist Health was under contract to pay $41.5 million for the Coral Gables development site.
Shoma filed a motion to dismiss the remaining charges of the case in August, but the lawsuit is still open in county records.
In an unrelated lawsuit, Colombo, founder of CMC Group and owner of the Collection Residences, is being sued by Craig Robins’ Dacra Development five years after Colombo won a legal battle over a shared private jet. Dacra is now alleging Colombo and CMC tampered with and bribed one of the jurors in the trial.