The firm alleges that the owner of the big box retail building, an entity managed by Azhar Said in Miami called Maria Investments, defaulted on an $11.5 million mortgage.
According to the complaint filed by Abinger this week, Maria Investments failed to repay the loan, which matured in October of the previous year. This default coincided with Best Buy vacating the two-story retail building at 11905 South Dixie Highway as part of the company’s closure of 17 stores nationwide.
The 38,456-square-foot building, constructed in 1988 on a 1-acre site, is currently listed for sale with an asking price of $19 million. Maria Investments acquired the property in 1999 for $2.8 million.
The legal history of the property involves a $14 million loan obtained from TotalBank in 2013 by Maria Investments, which was later renewed in 2019 after TotalBank’s acquisition by City National Bank of Florida. In December, Abinger acquired the loan from City National Bank, leading to the current foreclosure action.
Recent foreclosure actions in South Florida include a downtown Miami mixed-use property and a vacant office building in the Miami Design District. City National Bank had secured a $31.2 million partial judgment last month against a property managed by New York-based developer Yair Levy. Still, a foreclosure auction was canceled this month after Levy sold the property for $27.5 million to a joint venture between Avi Dishi, Elysee Investments, and Pan Am Equities.
In a separate case, real estate investor Remy Jacobson lost a three-story building in the Miami Design District to Centennial Bank. The bank had previously won a $10.4 million final foreclosure judgment, resulting from a lawsuit alleging default on a 2016 loan. The building was acquired by Centennial Bank for $61,500 at a foreclosure auction over the summer.
