Categories: Cross River NYLewisboroWestchester NY

Mighty Bal Harbour Luxury Tower Bankrupt, Selling Itself Cheap | Cross River Real Estate

[Photo via SFBJ]

Another one bites the dust! The luxury beachfront condo/hotel building known as One Bal Harbour in (duh) Bal Harbour has officially filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to schedule an auction and begin bidding procedures to sell off itself. The debtor, Elcom Hotel and Spa, owns 51 condo-hotel units and 41,047 square feet of the hotel portion of the building at 10295 Collins Ave, and is apparently over $20 million in debt. Oh, and the building’s practically falling apart.

Massive flooding is just the tip of the iceberg. >>

The 300 room, $225 million luxury resort was all the rage back in 2004, when developer WCI Communities claimed to have sold 87% of the building’s units to high-profile buyers. The high didn’t last long. In May 2006, three construction workers died when a concrete wall collapsed, and allegations of structural problems and massive flooding have been plaguing the building ever since. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008, and an unlikely duo (a Virginia lumber mogul and a Colombian businessman) Tom Sullivan and Jorge Arevalo swooped in to save the day. Or so they thought. Long story short, problems arose between Arevalo and both the residential and the hotel associations, then came a seriously detailed and damaging audit report, followed by a hell of a lot of construction defect lawsuits. And here we are!

Opening price is set at $13 million, with Stoneleigh Capital acting as stalking-horse bidder. Elcom is hoping for an auction before the end of the year, and we’re all hoping someone can get this mess in order before the building starts to look dated. Oh wait, too late. —Margina Demmer · One Bal Harbour trustee seeks bankruptcy auction [SFBJ] · One Bal Harbour: Swanky high-rise address or big condo hotel mess [SFBJ] · One Bal Harbour coverage [Curbed Miami]

Robert Paul

Robert is a realtor in Bedford NY. He has been successfully working with buyers and sellers for years. His local area of expertise includes Bedford, Pound Ridge, Armonk, Lewisboro, Chappaqua and Katonah. When you have a local real estate question please call 914-325-5758.