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Miami Foreclosures Homes Increased with Condos & Apartments
August 31st, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
The number of Miami foreclosures homes is expected to include some more condos and apartments in the coming months as banks continue to foreclosed condo, apartment and housing complexes.
The 199-unit 22-story River Oaks Condominium in Miami has been foreclosed by New York-based lender iStar FM Loans after developer 1951 NW South River Drive LLC and businessmen Fernando Marin Valencia and Luis Cardenas Gerlein failed to pay their $52.3 million development loan.
The developers borrowed the money in 2007 from Fremont Investment & Loan, which later sold the loan to iStar. They bought the two-acre land in 2005 for $5.3 million.
Construction began in 2008 and they started selling at $299,000 for the 760-square-feet units and $499,000 for the 2,039-square-feet units. The plan included a fitness center, pool, sun deck, botanical garden, boat slips for 18 units and a seven-story parking facility.
The developers are also facing numerous claims from contractors for unpaid bills.
Another residential building being foreclosed is a three-story complex of 43 apartment units in the Little Havana community. Development firm AGM Properties III Corp. and its president Massimo Tartaglia have received foreclosure action from lender Mercantil Commercebank for non-payment of a $2.8 million loan.
AGM purchased the building in 2002 for $1.7 million, and refinanced it in 2007 for $2.8 million.
The housing estate called Galloway Sunset Estates in the Kendall area of Miami has also been foreclosed by Miami-based lender TotalBank. The Galloway Estates site was designed for 12 houses, but the developers have sold only two homes.
In 2003, developers Hector Castellon, Maria Castellon and Carlos Fernandez borrowed money from Ocean Bank to build homes on the site. In January 2008, the loan was acquired by TotalBank and restructured it at $5.8 million.
The 29-unit housing development called Villas at Sorrento in the southern part of Miami-Dade County has also been targeted for foreclosure by Coral Gables-based lender Mercantil Commercebank.
Molj LLC and its managing officers Jorge Perez, Oscar de Armas and Lourdes Yabor De Diaz purchased the development site in 2006 for $2.2 million and borrowed $5.7 million from Mercantil to build villas on the site. However, only a few houses were built as the developers could not presell units as fast as they planned.
According to housing analysts, there has been condo overbuilding in the Miami metro area, pushing the condo vacancy rate higher.
Competition from lower-priced foreclosed single-family homes also worsened the condo market.
