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Location Ventures’ Coral Gables dev site faces foreclosure
Lender is suing affiliates for defaulting on $2M loan tied to parking lots slated for redevelopment
A second Location Ventures project site is in the crosshairs of a lender seeking repayment.
On Tuesday, 1200 Minorca Acquisition filed a foreclosure lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court against two affiliates of Location Ventures, the Coral Gables-based firm previously led by embattled developer Rishi Kapoor. The complaint alleges the affiliates defaulted on a $2 million mortgage secured by parking lots at 1200, 1250, 1260 and 1270 Minorca Avenue in Coral Gables.
The affiliates allegedly missed monthly payments and failed to obtain property insurance for the 0.3-acre site, the complaint states. In July, another lender filed a separate foreclosure lawsuit against a Location Ventures entity that owns a co-living project site in Miami Beach that allegedly defaulted on a $14.8 million loan.
Jason Alderman, the attorney for the lenders of both project sites, declined comment. Alan Fine, a former Miami-Dade judge who was tapped by Location Ventures’ investors to oversee the firm’s liquidation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Location Ventures has been in a freefall since the beginning of the year when a group of investors sued another company affiliate and Kapoor over a delayed co-living and co-working project in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood. Last month, Kapoor resigned as Location Ventures CEO as his firm navigated a flurry of lawsuits, lien claims and a scandal involving Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
A Location Ventures subsidiary paid Suarez $10,000 a month for a private consulting gig that is now the subject of separate criminal investigations by local and federal law enforcement agencies. Kapoor’s management of Location Ventures is also being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the most recent foreclosure complaint, the two Location Ventures affiliates took out a $2 million loan last year from an entity that subsequently sold the mortgage to 1200 Minorca. Kapoor and Daniel Motha, another former Location Ventures executive, guaranteed the loan, but they are not named as defendants in the complaint.
Location Ventures had previously planned to redevelop the parking lots into a seven-story building with a garage featuring co-living units. Since Fine took over operations of Location Ventures, all of its pending projects are in limbo. A five-story office building in Coral Gables that Location Ventures owns has been listed for sale with an asking price of $22 million.
The foreclosing entity, 1200 Minorca, is managed by Robert Gutlohn, whose name was brought up in a recent deposition by Greg Brooks, the ex-CFO of Location Ventures. Brooks testified that Gutlohn provided a $5 million loan to a Location Ventures entity developing the Coconut Grove project. The loan proceeds were then used to pay equity owed to Location Ventures investors Diana Ulis and Alex Kleyner, Brooks testified.