Sergio Pino allegedly torpedoed a deal to sell a Miami apartment building for $84.2 million over a parking garage snafu.
Now Hollywood, California-based Trion Properties, which had planned to buy the property, is suing the Miami-based developer to reclaim a $1 million deposit. Pino’s entity that owns the six-story, 230-unit building at 850 Northwest 43rd Avenue is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on July 20.
Pino, his lawyer Eugenio Duarte and Trion’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
The deal fell through because Pino allegedly failed to resolve the future ownership rights to a parking garage that is attached to the apartment building and an office complex at 850 Northwest 42nd Avenue, the lawsuit states. Pino developed both projects as a mixed-use site. He completed the apartment building in 2020, and the office complex, consisting of two five-story buildings, in 2021.
That year, Pino sold the office portion for $47.5 million to an entity managed by top executives of Miami-based Univista Insurance, including company CEO Ivan Herrera. After closing that deal, Pino allegedly failed to obtain Miami-Dade County approval to make the parking garage a separate property that would be jointly owned by the Univista entity and the Pino entity that owns the apartment building, the lawsuit states.
With the parking garage’s ownership unresolved, Pino entered into a contract to sell the apartment building to a Trion affiliate in February, the lawsuit states. A month later, the Univista entity sued the Pino entity over the parking garage, and filed a lis pendens against the structure and the apartment building, court records show.
The Univista complaint created an obstacle that prevented the apartment building sale from being consummated, Trion’s lawsuit alleges. Pino waited until May 8, a week after the scheduled closing date, to respond to the Univista lawsuit, which was filed in March, Trion alleges.
Trion notified Pino and Duarte that the buyer was terminating the contract, and demanded the return of its $1 million deposit. Pino has refused to give back the money, Trion alleges.
Trion, a multifamily real estate investment firm led by managing partners Max Sharkansky and Mitch Paskover, made its first foray into the South Florida market last year when it paid $87.3 million for a 294-unit rental complex in Miami-Dade’s Fontainebleau neighborhood.