Two years ago, a 1.8-acre development site on the Miami River entitled for 40 luxury townhomes hit the market for $25 million. Next week, the same property is scheduled to be sold at a courthouse auction to satisfy a $12.8 million foreclosure judgment.
It’s the latest setback for Miami-based developer Marlon Gomez, who five months ago lost control over a separate development site in Aventura. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Charles Johnson scheduled the March 4 auction for the Miami River property at 1515, 1529 and 1543 Northwest South River Drive after ruling in favor of a lender on Jan. 30.
An affiliate of Coral Gables-based The Fiorentino Family Office filed a foreclosure complaint last year against Gomez, two entities he manages that own the site and his former development partners, Fausto Callava and Antonio Pardo. The Fiorentino affiliate alleged that Gomez’s entities defaulted on a $10 million mortgage that matured in February 2025, per the lawsuit. The final judgment includes accrued interest.
An entity managed by Callava and Pardo assembled the site for $3.8 million in 2014, and six years later partnered with Gomez, who acquired an interest in the property for $2.1 million, records show. In 2020, the deed was transferred to the Gomez entities.
The site hit the market in 2024 at the $25 million asking price. In addition to 40 townhomes, the owner also obtained city of Miami approval for 14 50-foot boat slips. The project would cost an estimated $16.8 million to build, and the townhomes would generate $77.6 million in estimated sales, according to an offering at the time.
In July of last year, the property was placed under a court-ordered receiver, retired Miami-Dade judge Alan Fine, who briefly relisted the site with a reduced asking price of $18 million. In its foreclosure complaint, the Fiorentino affiliate alleged that Gomez provided “a fraudulent financial statement and concealed the fact that the [he] was already in default of a separate loan agreement” secured by an unrelated development site in Aventura.
Another Gomez entity lost the Aventura medical office development site at a courthouse auction won by an affiliate of Rok Lending with a $477,800 bid. The Rok Lending affiliate won a $19.9 million foreclosure judgment against Gomez’s entity that allegedly defaulted on a $15 million loan.