Receiver Alan Fine is taking over the distressed 1212 Aventura mixed-use project after more than a dozen office condo owners were forced to vacate the property this summer.
In an order signed on Tuesday, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Thomas Rebull appointed Fine to oversee and manage Medical District Developments, the entity developing the nearly completed project at 21290 Biscayne Boulevard. 1212 Aventura consists of an assisted senior living facility with 163 apartments, 39 office condos spanning 25,796 square feet and 29,684 square feet of retail.
Rebull is presiding over a foreclosure case against Medical District Developments filed in March by a lender, an affiliate of Las Vegas-based Dornin Investment Group. Medical District Developments, which is currently managed by David Avan in Miami, allegedly defaulted on a $49.6 million mortgage, the foreclosure complaint states.
Between November and January, Medical District Developments sold 25 office condos for a combined $9.4 million, records show. Unit prices ranged from $164,100 to $1.1 million. After taking possession of the units, the buyers were forced by the city of Aventura to leave 1212 Aventura in May, court records show. Medical District Developments allegedly allowed the master building permit and the temporary certificate of occupancy to expire.
Miguel Chamorro, an attorney for Medical District Developments, declined to comment.
“We felt the court’s appointment of a receiver was necessary to protect and stabilize 1212 Aventura,” said Victor Sanabria, the lawyer for the Dornin Investment Group affiliate. “We believe it will safeguard the property’s value and put the project back on track.”
The foreclosure complaint also named project manager, Aventura-based Rieber Developments, and 13 contractors, including Coconut Grove-based Arquitectonica, which designed 1212 Aventura, that have pending liens against the property totaling nearly $1 million in allegedly unpaid work. Rieber Developments CEO Bernardo Rieber previously told The Real Deal that his firm and multiple other companies are owed money.
“We are pleased the court entered the order,” said Glen Waldman, the attorney for Rieber Developments. “Things will now get attended to properly, which will benefit all parties.”
A retired Miami-Dade judge, Fine has handled receiverships in some high-profile cases involving commercial properties and development sites in foreclosure. In 2023, Fine was briefly retained by investors of defunct Coral Gables-based Location Ventures to liquidate the firm’s real estate assets. The arrangement ended in early 2024 when the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Location Ventures and its founder Rishi Kapoor for allegedly defrauding investors out of $93 million. A federal judge appointed a different receiver.
Recently, Fine was appointed as court receiver over an entity that owns a distressed development site on the Miami River currently listed for $18 million.
According to Judge Rebull’s order, Medical District Developments has not renewed the master building permit and temporary certificate of occupancy. As a result, no one can lawfully occupy 1212 Aventura, and the developer can’t finish the project, which is 90 percent complete.
The assisted senior living facility, projected to generate more than $7 million in annual revenue, is not operational, and buyers of the remaining office condos are unable to close on their units, the order states.
Meghhaa Kumaarr, a lawyer representing 17 office condo owners, said the judge’s ruling is favorable to her clients.
“This means the receiver will now be able to move forward with getting the master permit and the temporary certificate of occupancy reinstated so that they can go back into their units,” Kumaarr said. “Our clients have not been able to conduct their business, but they are still paying mortgages on their units. It’s been very disruptive.”