Stonerock Loses Two Miami Office Buildings to Lender Ardent

Stonerock Capital parted with its two downtown Miami office buildings in a foreclosure auction, despite its efforts to postpone the proceeding while it appeals the case.

The lender on the properties, an affiliate of Atlanta-based Ardent Companies, won the foreclosure auction on Monday morning with a bid of $15 million, according to Miami-Dade County court records. The auction came after Ardent won a $65.7 million foreclosure judgment last month in its two-year long lawsuit against Stonerock’s affiliates over an allegedly unpaid debt.

Ardent appears to have beat out the competition with a credit bid for $15 million.

The properties include the 25-story building at 44 West Flagler Street, completed on a 0.2-acre site in 1974, and the 12-story building at 200 Southeast First Street, completed on 0.3 acres in 1958, property records show.

Attorneys for Ardent and Stonerock’s affiliates didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

The Palm Beach County-based firm led by Yaakov “Jake” Handelsman paid $56.7 million for the two buildings in 2022, at the time partnering with Delray Beach-based Triple Double Real Estate on the purchase. Triple Double exited the joint venture in 2023, a spokesperson previously told The Real Deal.

To finance the purchase, Stonerock borrowed $58.3 million from Ardent when it bought the property, records show.

Stonerock’s loss of the properties comes as South Florida’s commercial real estate has felt the sting of distress in recent years, with the pain spreading to offices despite ongoing hype by market boosters about the region attracting out-of-state firms.

A two-year saga

In 2024, Ardent filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Stonerock, alleging it had defaulted on the loan’s maturity and owed $49.5 million in principal, as well as unpaid interest for several preceding months, plus late fees. The complaint also said that at the time, Stonerock still owed $624,957 on 200 Southeast First Street and $615,268 for 44 West Flagler Street for 2023 property taxes.

Ardent is led by CEOs Matt Shulman and Dror Bezalel.

Stonerock’s affiliates responded with a countersuit in late 2024, alleging that the lender has refused to disburse millions of dollars it held in reserves intended for payments of property taxes, insurance and tenant allowances, forcing the borrower to spend its own money and resulting in it losing out on prospective tenants, according to court filings. Ardent held a “stranglehold” on Stonerock by refusing to respond, failing to provide necessary documentation or flat out denying consent to Stonerock’s efforts to either sell the buildings or refinance the loan, according to the counterclaim.

Last month, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Joseph Perkins issued a final judgment of foreclosure for $65.7 million, after the two sides jointly filed a motion seeking the final judgment. The total amount consists of $41.1 million in principal, $25 million in unpaid accrued interest from January 2024 to May, along with other costs, court records show.

After the judgment, Stonerock’s entities filed appeals of the foreclosure judgment and a January order for partial summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff, and sought to pause the auction planned for Monday pending the appeal. Perkins denied this request.

One of Stonerock’s affiliates also pushed back in court to the lender’s request for information such as the properties’ rent rolls, communications on lease renewals, financial statements and operating reports, and other property information, court filings show.

The 44 West Flagler Street building is anchored by First Horizon Bank. Other tenants include the Consulate General of Jamaica. Tenants at the 200 Southeast First Street building include a barbershop, a data center and a medical office.

Other foreclosure auctions this year included the Goodtime Hotel, which Eric Birnbaum and Michael Fascitelli had opened in 2021 to plenty of hype and a celebrity-studded party. This month, Los Angeles-based lender CIM Group won the foreclosure auction with a $100 credit bid, after obtaining a $204.7 million foreclosure judgment in May.

Also this year, a pair of entities tied to Marlon Gomez lost a 1.8-acre Miami River assemblage at a courthouse auction to the lender, an affiliate of the Fiorentino Family Office, which made the $15,600 winning bid in March.

In March, affiliates of embattled real estate duo Joseph and Meyer Chetrit lost the Tides Hotel in Miami Beach to lender Safe Harbor Equity, which credit bid on the 45-key hotel after obtaining a $95.6 million final judgment in January.