South Florida Dirt: Unraveling the Mandarin Residences Boca Raton mess
Penn-Florida’s Mark A. Gensheimer with Mandarin Oriental Residences at 105 E. Camino Real (Getty, Penn-Florida, Mandarin Oriental)
After years of delays, lawsuits and other issues, Penn-Florida Companies is now facing foreclosure on the Mandarin Oriental Residences, Boca Raton project.
The lender, an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, filed a $417.7 million suit against the developer’s affiliate and a laundry list of co-defendants, including subcontractors and condo buyers. Penn-Florida, led by Mark Gensheimer, first unveiled plans for the Mandarin Oriental-branded mixed-use condo development in 2015. Construction was supposed to begin in 2017, when the developer secured its original construction loan, which was refinanced in 2023 with a $270 million loan.
The 1.5-acre site is home to the partially completed 163-room hotel and 85-unit condo at 105 East Camino Real.
The foreclosure suit alleges the developer defaulted on its loan by failing to make monthly interest payments due from June 2024 to August 2025. The lender says that Penn Florida failed to pay off the loan when it matured in September of last year.
The $417.7 million includes the $270 million principal balance on the note, $24.6 million in advanced funds for project expenses, plus interest, fees and other costs.
Condo buyers could lose most, if not all, of their deposits if the Apollo affiliate forecloses on the property. But the foreclosure wasn’t the first sign of trouble at the project. The Mandarin Oriental, Boca Raton hotel, owned by a separate Penn-Florida affiliate, is heading to a bankruptcy auction on Aug. 14.
More than a dozen buyers have also sued the Penn-Florida affiliate developing the condo component over missed deadlines.
The project’s trajectory is markedly different from the Mandarin Oriental-branded condo development in Miami, which has reported strong presales and an accelerated construction timeline — including two $50 million penthouse sales before a shovel hit the ground.
But not all branded condo buildings are built equal.
What we’re thinking about: Social media influencer and livestreamer IShowSpeed paid $11 million for a warehouse in Miami for content creation. Have you worked on any content creation warehouse deals? Send me a note at kk@therealdeal.com.
CLOSING TIME
Residential: A trust tied to Yves Mongeau and Sylvie Guilbault sold a 9,000-square-foot condo at 450 Alton Road in Miami Beach for $23.5 million, or $2,600 per square foot. Akron Warwick Exchange LLC bought the Icon South Beach penthouse, which set a record for sales in the building.
Commercial: Waste Management paid $379.4 million for the 146-acre, largely vacant industrial site by Northwest 95th Avenue and Northwest 106th Street in Medley. A company managed by Lowell and Loretta Dunn sold the land. Waste Management plans to use the site for a landfill.
NEW TO THE MARKET
The planned 1.2-acre trophy estate at 1000 Riviera Isle Drive hit the market for $80 million, marking the priciest listing in Fort Lauderdale. The property includes a 1.2-acre waterfront site at 1000 Riviera Isle Drive, asking $30 million, along with plans for The Manor at Banyan Point, a 20,000-square-foot mansion. If completed as designed, the estate would be priced at $4,000 per square foot. Kevin Kreutzfeld and Platon Polishchuk of Premier Estate Properties have the listing. Affiniti Architects designed the manor, and Mark Timothy Luxury Homes is the builder, according to the listing.
1000 Riviera Isle Drive in Fort Lauderdale (Affiniti Architects & Premier Estate Properties)
A thing we’ve learned
Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin cut a $10 million check to a political action committee supporting Byron Donalds for governor of Florida, Bloomberg first reported. The contribution marks the largest single donation recorded in the race for governor. Griffin moved his financial firms, Citadel and Citadel Securities, and has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into South Florida real estate. He is building a $1 billion headquarters tower in Brickell, and last week secured a deal with the city of Miami to purchase the missing piece for that assemblage.
