UPDATED, March 9, 2:25 p.m.
The lender for a townhouse community near Delray Beach took over the property.
An entity managed by Antony Gironta handed the keys to the 31-unit Emerald Place complex at 14390 Emerald Place Way in unincorporated Palm Beach County to lender ULE Group, according to records and real estate database Vizzda. In exchange, ULE Group wiped out a $6.5 million debt it had issued on the property last year and also assumed an existing $7.8 million Fannie Mae mortgage, Vizzda research shows.
The 56,000-square-foot Emerald Place consists of five two-story buildings on 3.5 acres, records show. All units span roughly 1,800 square feet and have three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.
Gironta, whose LinkedIn shows he heads South Florida infrastructure contractor WECC Utilities, had purchased the community for $10.5 million shortly after it was completed in 2019.
Separately from WECC, Gironta said he invests in real estate. ULE’s mortgage on Emerald Place stemmed from a roughly $6 million to $7 million credit he had with the construction materials supplier for materials that Gironta had purchased for a New York venture, he said. To settle the debt, he transferred the townhomes to ULE.
ULE is a Hauppauge, New York-based firm that provides project management, electrical and other real estate services, according to its website.
Records show the deal involved a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, which is a more friendly way for lenders to resolve issues with borrowers who are having difficulty meeting their debt obligations. Instead of embarking on a foreclosure, which could take months to run through the court system, a property owner transfers the title of the real estate to the lender in exchange for a release from loan obligations.
Delray Beach and nearby areas have proven attractive to developers seeking to build low-rise residential communities. Last year, Miami-based homebuilder Lennar dropped $19.2 million for a portion of a closed golf course at 5901 Via Delray near Delray. Seller 13th Floor Homes had approved the entire golf course for an age-restricted community with 251 townhouses and 164 single-family homes. Lennar will follow the same development plan, but only on the portion of the course it purchased.
Also last year, an affiliate of Gabriel Ormachea, president of Fort Lauderdale-based real estate firm Grand Capital, bought 60 condos at the Fall Ridge of Delray at 1100 Southwest Fourth Avenue in a bulk purchase for $13.5 million.
Clarification: This story was updated after publication with Antony Gironta’s response.