After yearslong litigation, former lender wins lawsuit tied to Miami Design District dev site

A former lender of the failed project at the entrance to the Miami Design District and Midtown Miami won in court this week, likely closing the door on years of litigation surrounding previous plans for the property. 

Miami-based HES Group had planned to develop the site into Triptych Miami, a 475,000-square-foot project with a hotel, retail space, offices and parking at 3601 North Miami Avenue. The latest litigation involved the primary lender, LV Midtown, and QR Triptych, which held a second mortgage. 

QR Triptych, an affiliate of JQ Group of Companies, was wiped out after LV Midtown acquired the property via foreclosure in 2021 and sold it to a new ownership group the following year. 

Last week, U.S. District Judge Roy Altman granted LV Midtown’s motion to dismiss the case against QR Triptych. LV Midtown is an affiliate of Miami-based LV Lending. LV Lending is an affiliate of LinkVest Capital. 

Brickell-based JQ, led by CEO Jesus Quintero, said in 2016 that it paid more than $10 million for a stake in the site and future project. Two years later it provided an $8.2 million loan through QR Triptych. 

Triptych called for a 300-room Hilton Curio Collection hotel and about 38,000 square feet of retail space, 60,000 square feet office space and a 400-space parking garage. The project was first approved in 2015, but it was never built. 

Integra Investments, David Edelstein’s Tricap and Alex Karakhanian’s Lndmrk Development paid $23 million for the 1-acre property in 2022. They are not involved in the lawsuit.

Prior to that sale, affiliates of HES filed for bankruptcy in 2021 in an effort to bring on new partners or sell the site as they faced a foreclosure lawsuit from LV Lending.

QR Triptych’s attorney, Aliette Rodz, a partner at Shutts & Bowen, said in a statement that she believed the sale process was unfair. 

“The ownership group and the first mortgage holder, LV Midtown, used the bankruptcy process to enable LV to take title to the property through an expedited bankruptcy sale process that, in our view, did not afford an adequate opportunity for market participation.” 

From her and her client’s perspective, LV Midtown used the sale “to cut off claims that our client had against the senior lender for breach of an intercreditor agreement.” In a separate lawsuit, QR alleged that LV had breached their agreement. 

LV declined to comment. 

The new owners plan a 20-story building designed by Arquitectonica with about 240,000 square feet of offices and retail space, parking and a rooftop restaurant and terrace, according to Integra’s website. The building would overlook I-195, facing drivers who enter the Miami Design District or Midtown Miami from the highway via the North Miami Avenue exit. 

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