Mattress Firm CEO Steve Stagner and a Mattress Firm store (Credit: Mattress Firm and Getty Images)

The nation’s largest specialty mattress and bedding company will have some rough nights ahead.
Mattress Firm Inc. said it will close up to 700 retail stores nationwide after filing for bankruptcy Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal. The closures will start with around 200 stores over the next few days.

The company has dozens of locations in Miami, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Mattress Firm will still have more than 2,000 locations left. CEO Steve Stagner said the company is closing stores in markets where it has “too many locations in close proximity to each other.” The decision to enter bankruptcy was made to pay off creditors. It’s two largest debts are $64.7 million to Simmons Manufacturing Company, and $25.5 million to Serta Mattress Company.

The bankruptcy follows an aggressive and failed nationwide expansion. The Houston company sued former employees and Colliers International in 2017 for pushing the brand into more expensive locations to enrich themselves.

The closures aren’t good news for Mattress Firm’s landlords either. The company leased many of its spaces in mall properties, which continue to get battered by e-commerce rivals.

Toys “R” Us is another major retailer with with hundreds of stores to go under. The company filed for bankruptcy late last year and more recently hired Raider Hill Advisors in July to sell off 284 properties around the country. Earlier this week, Raider Hill brought on JLL to manage most of those properties.

Like other retailers, Mattress Firm is facing stiff competition from online-based companies. In the mattress world that includes Casper, Leesa, and Zinus. [Wall Street Journal] — Dennis Lynch 

Next week there will be a few real estate events in South Florida.

On Oct. 10, the Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida (CIASF) is hosting its Beth Azor | Women’s Initiative Event from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Coral Reef Yacht Club, 2484 S Bayshore Drive. Azor of Azor Advisory Services will lead the discussion, centering on tips and tricks on how to achieve success in commercial real estate.

Also on Oct. 10, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation Real Estate Division is hosting its 21st Annual Sunset Over Miami event from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at X Miami, 230 NE 4th Street. Attend and interact with 500 real estate professionals in every different sect of the business.

To search for future industry events or browse past ones, click here. And to submit more industry events, please reach out to events@therealdeal.com.

Luxury home developer Philippe Harari sold a waterfront mansion on Miami Beach’s Palm Island for $20.4 million.

According to property records, 15 Palm Aqua LLC sold the seven-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot home at 15 Palm Avenue to Beryla Investments LLC, a company controlled by Alejandro de la Vega.

Harari owns AquaBlue Group, a Miami Beach-based luxury homebuilder. His LLC paid $5.14 million for the 17,700-square-foot lot in 2013. It hit the market in 2015 for $22.5 million and was taken off the market the following year.

Palm Island is home to a handful of celebrities. Last year, rapper and music producer Bryan “Birdman” Williams listed his waterfront Palm Island home at 70 Palm Avenue for $20 million. In August, reggaeton singer and songwriter Nicky Jam paid $3.4 million for a non-waterfront home at 240 Palm Island Drive.

About two years ago, Jose Luiz Depieri, vice chairman of Brasil Pharma SA, paid $13.6 million for the waterfront home at 151 North Hibiscus Drive in Miami Beach, which AquaBlue also developed.

The Estates at Acqualina, Chairman of Bank OZK George Gleason and Jules Trump

When Trump Group, the developers of The Estates at Acqualina in Sunny Isles Beach, scored a $558 million construction loan from Little Rock-based Bank OZK this week, it marked the largest condo construction loan of this cycle in Miami-Dade County.

How did it compare to others? It was nearly 1.7 times as big as the next biggest condo loan this cycle — a $315 million construction loan in 2016 by Wells Fargo and Blackstone to Dezer Development and Related Group’s Residences by Armani/Casa in Sunny Isles Beach.

Bank OZK’s financing was also more than four times as large as the $138 million construction loan that Two Roads Development’s Elysee Miami secured from JP Morgan this summer.

Trump Group’s deal was significant though not just for its sheer size, but also because of the timing.

Luxury condo sales have slowed significantly in Miami and banks and lenders are hesitant about providing big condo construction financing deals. Reports further suggest that downtown Miami’s condo cycle will come to an end this year as the existing supply of luxury condos has topped five years, according to the real estate consulting firm Condo Vultures.

Further highlighting this, a recent report by EWM Realty International that shows that Sunny Isles Beach, where Trump Group is building The Estates at Acqualina, is saddled with 17 years of resale inventory of condos priced at $5 million and up.  Some developers have struggled to get financing since lenders will not normally provide the loan until the condo has at least 50 percent in pre-sales.

Jules Trump said that the first tower is now 65 percent pre-sold. Many of his buyers, he said, have come from the Northeast U.S., in contrast to the past, when other developers and projects have relied heavily on foreign buyers from South America. Condos at The Estates at Acqualina are priced from $4.2 million to $14 million with penthouses priced up to $35 million. Unit sizes at the 245-unit development range from 2,917 square feet to 9,000 square feet, and from three to seven bedrooms.

For Bank OZK, formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks, the loan marks its largest condo construction loan ever in Miami-Dade County. The regional bank led by George Gleason has become one of the nation’s largest construction lenders. With just over $22 billion in assets, Bank OZK’s loan to the Estates at Acqualina represented 2.5 percent of the bank’s total assets. Between 2013 and 2017, the bank provided more than $1.2 billion in condo construction loans in Miami-Dade County, ranking it as the biggest condo lender, fueling the condo boom this cycle.

Below is a list of the next largest condo construction loans in Miami this cycle:

1. Wells Fargo and Blackstone’s $315 million construction loan in 2016to Dezer Development and Related Group’s Residences by Armani/Casa in Sunny Isles Beach, a planned 56-story, 649-foot tall tower designed by César Pelli.
2. Paramount Miami Worldcenter’s $285 million construction loan in 2017 provided by Inbursa Bank and BC Immigration Fund, an affiliate of New York-based Brevet Capital. The building recently topped off and is a 60-story, 562-unit tower developed by Dan Kodsi in downtown Miami.
3. HSBC’s $284 million construction loan to Jade Signature in Sunny Isles in 2014. The building was recently completed and is a 57-story, 192-unit beachfront tower at 16901 Collins Avenue developed by Fortune International.
4. Blackstone’s $265 million construction loan to Four Seasons Residences at the Surf Club in 2014. The completed project in Surfside includes an 80-room hotel and two 12-story condo towers that total 150 units.

Clockwise from top left: New York launches investigation into Trump family finances after bombshell report, senators write letter asking for investigation into real estate money-laundering, shopping malls see highest vacancy rate they’ve seen in seven years, and co-living company’s funding round could make it the best-funded company of its kind in the U.S.

New York launches investigation into Trump family finances after bombshell report
The state of New York plans to investigate President Donald Trump and his family over allegations that they evaded taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars over the years, Bloomberg reported. The state’s Department of Taxation and Finance’s probe comes on the heels of a bombshell New York Times report that claimed Trump and his siblings employed a number of elaborate methods to avoid paying taxes on their father’s estate. The investigation also found that Trump received hundreds of millions of dollars from his father’s empire — a revelation that flies in the face of Trump’s “self-made man” campaign trail rhetoric. Trump’s attorney Charles Harder has claimed the Times’ investigation bases its allegations on facts that “are extremely inaccurate.” A spokesman for the Department of Taxation and Finance said the department is “vigorously pursuing all appropriate avenues of investigation.” [TRD]

Shopping malls see highest vacancy rate they’ve seen in seven years
In the third quarter of 2018, shopping malls saw the highest vacancy rates they’ve seen in seven years, the Wall Street Journal reported. Mall vacancies in the second quarter hit 9.1 percent, up from 8.6 percent in the second quarter. That jump could be partially attributed to Sears and Bon-Ton closings, according to the outlet. Average shopping mall rents, meanwhile, were down from $43.36 per square foot in the second quarter to $43.25 per square foot in the third quarter, the first time average rents have slid since 2011. The vacancy rate increasing may seem like a harbinger of doom for malls, but Reis senior economist Barbara Denham told the outlet that the “retail sector is still correcting.” And while lower-end malls have struggled, higher-end malls in wealthier neighborhoods are still doing well, the outlet reported. [TRD]

Senators write letter asking for investigation into real estate money-laundering
A pair of senators want Congress to launch an investigation that will determine how the U.S. can best curtail money laundering in the real estate sector, the Wall Street Journal reported. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse called for the probe in a letter they sent to the Government Accountability Office. “Residential real estate markets currently have fewer [anti-money-laundering] protections than lending financial institutions, presenting increased risk of access by foreign and domestic criminal organizations,” they said in the letter. The senators want the investigation to assess the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN, and hopes a FinCEN program that aims to crack down on money-laundering in certain areas can be expanded. [TRD]

Co-living company’s funding round could make it the best-funded company of its kind in the U.S.
A co-living company that’s poised to raise more than $50 million in funding could become the best-funded company of its type in the country. Ollie plans to raise the money in a new venture funding round, sources told TRD. The startup founded by brothers Christopher and Andrew Bledsoe is competing with companies like Common and Bungalow, both of which have raised millions of dollars. But the $50 million would propel Ollie — which raised $15 million in a funding round in January — to the top. The company has been mum about the new funding round so far, saying in a statement that its “policy is not to comment on speculation about our fundraising activity.” It recently signed a lease for a new headquarters in Manhattan. [TRD]

MAJOR MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

NYC developer Silverstein Properties launching real estate lending venture
Silverstein Properties is branching out, Bloomberg reported. Silverstein Capital Partners, the company’s real estate lending venture, will dole out loans starting at $25 million for projects ranging from residential to industrial, according to the outlet. Silverstein CEO Marty Burger said the company is partnering with a pension fund and a sovereign wealth fund to finance the venture. “We’re a developer at heart, and we usually do very large projects, and we found that there was just a gap in the financing markets where there were large loans needed for complicated projects,” Burger told the outlet. Silverstein has developed projects including 3 World Trade Center and the Four Seasons Hotel downtown. [TRD]

Waldorf Astoria hotel-condo tower set to rise in downtown Miami
Downtown Miami will soon have its own Waldorf Astoria. New York-based Property Markets Group plans to build a Waldorf hotel-condo tower designed by Sieger Suarez Architects on Biscayne Boulevard, according to Bloomberg. Condo sales in the glass tower won’t launch until the luxury market improves, but when the 1,049-foot tower opens, it will include 140 hotel rooms and around 400 condo units, the outlet reported. This will be the first Waldorf development in Miami. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., which owns Waldorf, has opened Waldorfs in several cities abroad, including Amsterdam and Dubai. PMG bought the site where the hotel-condo will rise for $80 million back in 2014. [TRD]

New York-based firm specializing in retail build-outs opening Irvine office
New York-based construction firm Schimenti Construction is expanding out west. The retail build-out company, which has worked on flagship shops in Times Square, including Fossil, Gap and Old Navy, plans to open an office in Irvine, California — its first office on the West Coast, according to company representatives. Schimenti is currently working on the Dover Street Market in Los Angeles, which has an expected fall opening. The firm’s executive vice president Ray Catlin will head up the new Irvine office. Catlin said his firm isn’t worried about the challenging retail market affecting his business, maintaining that the “demise of retail… is overstated.” [TRD]

Former Chicago Cubs player seeking $1.3M for mansion outside Chicago
David DeJesus is selling his mansion outside of Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reported. The former Chicago Cubs player and his wife Kim are seeking $1.3 million for the 6,700-square-foot, five-bedroom home in Wheaton, which they bought for $1.1 million in 2011. DeJesus, who played for the Cubs in 2012 and 2013, moved to Los Angeles with his family after he retired from the MLB, but then he got a gig as an analyst for NBC Sports Chicago. He told the Tribune he wanted to be closer to his job. “Having that house [in Wheaton] is great, but it’s still 45 minutes from work,” DeJesus told the outlet, adding that he and his family are “city people.” [TRD]

Dallas-based developer wins former billionaire’s Colorado ranch in an auction
Dallas-based developer Mehrdad Moayedi has purchased former billionaire Sam Wyly’s six-house ranch outside Aspen for around $14 million in an auction — ”a fraction” of the property’s original $60 million asking price, Mansion Global reported. The Aspen property went to auction after Wyly was ordered to pay more than $1 billion for committing tax fraud. It’s the second estate Moayedi has won in an auction in the past two years, according to the outlet. In 2017, he snapped up one of the biggest mansions in Dallas, and is in the process of subdividing it and building nine homes on it. Wyly’s attorney Stewart Thomas told the outlet it was “a shame [the Colorado property] didn’t sell for more.” [TRD]

Canadian company trying to open “robot brothel” in Houston lacks proper permits, city says
A Canadian company that’s trying to open a “robot brothel” in Houston has been hit with a stop-work order because it doesn’t have the right permits, the Houston Chronicle reported. KinkySDollS had said it planned to open a brothel “where human-like dolls are erotically displayed and can be rented to use in private rooms,” the outlet reported. The company will have to obtain a demolition permit and submit plans for the site if it wants to proceed, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office told the outlet. The mayor, however, is opposed to the project, and said the city is trying to determine whether an existing ordinance could either keep the brothel from opening or regulate it. The city is also mulling drafting new ordinances to do so, according to the outlet. [Houston Chronicle]

Donald Trump and Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago (left) and New York (right) (Credit: Wikipedia)

Small-time investors in Trump properties in cities like New York and Chicago have taken a hit since Donald Trump became president.

Revenue at the Trump International Hotel & Tower New York between 2015 and 2017 went from $34.4 million to $30.9 million — a 14 percent decline after adjusting for inflation, the Washington Post reported. Bookings at Trump’s hotel in Chicago dropped 8 percent between 2015 and 2016.

Some investors at the hotels — who, through condo-hotel arrangements, share in the booking profits for the rooms — say that revenue now isn’t covering the fees and taxes that they pay on the rooms. Earlier this year, the board of the New York hotel considered shedding Trump’s name. Donald Trump Jr. and a New Jersey doctor named Stephen Soloway, who was later named to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, tried to shut down the effort. They were outvoted, but the idea ultimately didn’t go anywhere.

“There’s a lot of people who have nothing to do with him, that are being injured,” said Howard Finkelstein, an investor in Trump’s New York hotel. “We’re the ones that are paying the price for his ridiculous ego. There’s no reason to have that name on there.”

Meanwhile, the Trump Organization’s hotel in Washington D.C. is benefiting from an influx of conservative groups, GOP fundraisers and foreign embassy parties. The Las Vegas hotel has attracted tourists from China.

And while bookings at Trump’s Chicago hotel have been down so far in 2018, according to an update shared with investors late last month, it’s seen an influx in visitors from Saudi Arabia. Bookings from those travelers skyrocketed 169 percent so far in 2018 from the same period two years earlier. The investor note also stated that there’s been an uptick in guests from China.

It’s unclear how the latest inquiries into the Trump real estate empire will impact its properties. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance announced on Wednesday that it’s launching an investigation into the Trump family for possible tax evasion following an explosive New York Times report. City officials subsequently announced that they too will look into whether the Trumps underpaid taxes on their real estate for decades. [Washington Post] — Kathryn Brenzel

Paul Manafort and his house at 10 St. James Drive in Palm Beach Gardens (Credit: Redfin, Getty Images)

Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for President Trump, will forfeit his New York homes as part of a plea deal but will keep his house at a gated South Florida country club community.

Federal prosecutors filed a proposed order on Friday detailing bank accounts and properties that Manafort agreed to forfeit, and his Palm Beach Gardens residence was absent from the order.

The 5,231-square-foot house is in BallenIsles, a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens. Manafort has been registered to vote at the address of the Palm Beach Gardens house, 10 St. James Drive, since 2011.

He and his wife bought the house in 2007 for $1.5 million.

Manafort’s homes in New York, valued at $22 million, will be auctioned by the U.S. Marshall’s office. His homes in New York include a Brooklyn brownstone, a SoHo loft, an apartment in lower Manhattan, a residence in the Hamptons and a 43^rd-floor apartment in Trump Tower.

He agreed last month to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller and pleaded guilty to charges arising from his consulting work in Ukraine for pro-Russia politicians.

Manafort pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy, and prosecutors dismissed five other charges that included money laundering and violations of a disclosure requirements in a lobbying law.

Prior to the plea deal, a jury in another case found Manafort guilty of eight counts of bank fraud, tax fraud and failure to disclose a foreign bank account. He is incarcerated and awaiting sentencing. [Palm Beach Post] – Mike Seemuth

Epic Residences (Credit: Cervera Real Estate)

Six waterfront condominium units in downtown Miami and Sunny Isles Beach will be offered at an auction today.

At least three of the condos will be offered without reserve, or a minimum bid.

Miami-based Platinum Luxury Auctions will conduct the live auction this evening, starting at 7 p.m. The deadline for registering for the six-property auction is 5 p.m. today.

Final previews of four condos at Epic Residences and two others at Trump Towers will be held today.

At least two of the four condos at Epic Residences in downtown Miami will be offered without reserve. The units at Epic have two- and three-bedroom floor plans, and they feature Snairdero cabinetry, Italian marble floors and floor-to-ceiling, impact-glass windows.

One of the two units at Trump Towers in Sunny Isles Beach will be offered without reserve. The units feature lofted ceilings, European-style cabinetry, granite counter tops, and frameless showers and soaking tubs in the master bathrooms. – Mike Seemuth

Jack Nicklaus

A north Palm Beach County residential community founded by golfer Jack Nicklaus and his wife Barbara withdrew its bid to remove a conservation easement and allow home construction.

Bear’s Club, an invitation-only residential community in Jupiter with about 80 homes, a golf course and clubhouse is also habitat for such endangered species as the gopher tortoise.

Bear’s Club wanted to build as many as eight homes on 15 acres it owns, but the plan was precluded by a 1993 conservation easement barring development.

In exchange for lifting the easement, Bear’s Club offered Palm Beach County a $1 million donation to a county fund for maintenance of natural areas. Bear’s Club also offered to donate other another site spanning 20 acres for habitat conservation.

County commissioners, who had been expected to vote Oct. 16 on the proposed swap, received more than 100 emails from residents who opposed the proposal.

Opponents circulated a petition on the Change.org website called “NO to Jack Nicklaus Land Swap.” The Audubon Everglades organization and the Sierra Club’s Loxahatchee also opposed the proposal. [Palm Beach Post] – Mike Seemuth

ManorCare Health Services Carrollwood (Credit: Google | US Yellow Pages)

A Miami-based company acquired a nursing home in suburban Tampa for $16.9 million, the latest in a recent series of deals with the same seller.

Millennium Management Inc. of Miami paid about $14,000 per bed for the property in Carrollwood, an unincorporated suburb just north of Tampa.

The nursing home, called ManorCare Health Servicaes Carollwood, has 120 licensed beds, according to the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

The seller was health care real estate investment trust Welltower Inc., a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Welltower recently sold two other nursing homes in Broward County to Millennium Management: Heartland of Tamarac for $15.4 million and ManorCare Health Services in Plantation for $14.2 million. [Tampa Bay Business Journal] – Mike Seemuth

Palm Beach Gardens Mayor Maria Marino

The Palm Beach Gardens city council approved construction of 24 houses on a seven-acre site next to an existing residential community.

Mayor Maria Marino voted with majority of the council in favor of the residential project, which she called a well-conceived development that won’t reduce the values of nearby properties.

Parkwood Distinctive Homes of Gainesville plans to build the houses on a site west of Florida’s Turnpike on Hood Road that spans about seven acres.

Parkwood bought the Palm Beach Gardens development site last year for $2.55 million.

Residents of a neighboring residential community called Mirabella complained that the planned home-building project would put new two-story houses near existing one-story houses at Mirabella, and would add be an excessive addition to nearby residential development activity, including Kolter Group’s construction of the Alton community.

But the city council voted 4-1 in favor of the project. The sole council member who voted against the project, Matthew Lane, resides in Mirabella. [Palm Beach Post] – Mike Seemuth

Beach House Motel in Indialantic (Credit: Mark Denemark | Florida Today)

A damaged oceanfront motel in the Melbourne area will be offered at auction this month.

Hurricane Irma last year ripped the roof off the Beach House Motel and reduced the Indialantic property to a tear-down candidate.

The never-reopened motel is located at 405 North Miramar Avenue in Indialantic, a town on the barrier island just east of Melbourne.

Jacobson Auction & Realty Co. will conduct the auction starting on Oct. 20 at 10 a.m.

The owner, Vinu Patel, president and chief executive officer of Anuva Manufacturing Services, bought the Beach House Motel for $430,000 in 2006.

According to Patel, an architectural feasibility study shows the site of his Melbourne-area motel would be suitable for the construction of 10 to 13 three-story townhouses with ground-floor garages.

Hurricane Irma in September 2017 spawned a tornado that hit Indialantic, one of nine confirmed tornadoes that Irma spun off in Brevard, Lake and Volusia counties. [Florida Today] – Mike Seemuth

Mortgage fraud risk jumped more than 12 percent year over year at the end of Q2. (Credit: iStock)

Mortgage fraud is on the rise as more buyers are inflating their incomes in order to qualify for new purchases.

Roughly one in every 109 mortgage applications has some indication of fraud, according to data from CoreLogic cited by CNBC.

Mortgage fraud risk climbed 12 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier. And areas like New York, New Jersey, Florida, Washington, D.C. and New Mexico are most at risk.

Bridget Berg, principal of fraud solutions strategy for CoreLogic, said rising home prices and strong demand has put pressure on bona fide borrowers to qualify for a mortgage.

“Undisclosed real estate liabilities, credit repair, questionable down payment sources and income falsification are the most likely misrepresentations,” she said.

The biggest cause for fraud risk was inaccurate income reporting. The practice shot up 22 percent year over year, and it’s now easier than ever for fraudsters. Borrowers can use online services that will create fake pay stubs and answer phone calls to “confirm” income.

“Sites will have a disclaimer, claiming it’s for novelty purposes or similar qualifying statements,” Berg said. “Some are out of the country and not traceable. There are sites where you can buy credit lines to increase your credit.”

CoreLogic’s survey also found that loans coming from wholesale lenders or brokers have a higher risk of fraud, which was common during the last housing boom. [CNBC] –Rich Bockmann

(Credit from left: Pixabay, NAR)

Shannon McGahn, a former Trump administration official at the Treasury Department, is now top lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors, the country’s second biggest lobbying group by dollars spent and the country’s largest voice for brokers.

McGahn most recently served on the staff of Republican Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. When she took that post in 2017, she was the first Trump-era official to leave a post at the Treasury. McGahn starts her new job at NAR on Oct. 15, Inman reported, and she will be the first woman to hold the chief lobbyist position. She is married to Donald McGahn, who serves as White House counsel to President Trump.

McGahn’s deep connections to the administration and Republicans in congress will no doubt be useful for the million-plus member trade group that has spent more than $80 million on lobbying since Trump took office less than two years ago. The group was particularly active during last year’s tax reform discussions, pressing lawmakers to curb the negative effect of some measures on incentives for homeownership. [Inman]—Will Parker

The Daytona Beach Convention Hotel & Condominiums construction site (Credit: Ox Blue | YouTube)

Construction of a high-rise hotel and condominium complex in Daytona Beach stopped because the developer fired the general contractor 20 months after breaking ground.

The city government issued a stop-work order Oct. 3 that halted construction of Daytona Beach Convention Hotel & Condominiums after the developer fired W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Group as general contractor.

The Palm Coast-based developer, Photogroup Inc., notified the city in a letter that it fired W.G. Yates and requested withdrawal of a building permit for the development, effective Oct. 2.

The city’s stop-work order prohibits construction of the hotel complex from resuming until Photogroup hires a new general contractor.

Photogroup plans to apply for building permits with a new general contractor, according to Alexy Lysich, vice president of the development company, which his Russian family runs.

The $192 million Daytona Beach Convention Hotel & Condominiums development is designed as a hotel and a condominium hotel with a 28-story south tower and a 31-story north tower with a total of 501 rooms. The beachfront development site is at the intersection of Oakridge Boulevard and State Road A1A in Daytona Beach.

Prior to the dismissal of W.G. Yates as general contractor, the south tower was on schedule to open in 2019 and the north tower was on schedule to open in 2020, Lysich told the News-Journal.

Why Photogroup fired the W.G. Yates is unclear.

Manoj Bhoola, chief executive officer of Ormond Beach-based Elite Hospitality Inc., told the News-Journal that it is “very uncommon for a developer and a general contractor to part ways so deep into a project.” [News-Journal] – Mike Seemuth

Kevin Morris, senior vice president, Colliers International

Miami-based Courtelis Co. sold a fully leased apartment complex in southwest Florida for $11 million.

Courtelis sold the 128-unit property to Grande Court North Port Inc. for about $86,000 per unit.

The five-building, 115,303-square-foot apartment complex, called Grande Court North Port, is at 5203 Greenwood Avenue in North Port, a town in southern Sarasota County.

The new owner of the LIHTC (low income housing tax credit) property is a partnership between Southport Financial and Raymond James Tax Credit Funds.

Kevin Morris, a senior vice president of brokerage firm Colliers International, represented both the buyer and seller in the off-market transaction.

The buyer plans to renovate the North Port rental complex, according to Morris, who called the deal “indicative of the growing appetite for affordable housing assets in Florida.”

A national survey by Maryland-based real estate consulting firm RCLCO shows that the West Villages community in North Port, ranks among the fastest-selling residential developments in the country. – Mike Seemuth

Babcock Ranch’s photovoltaic solar power generation field

Miami-based Lennar announced plans to develop its second residential community at the master-planned Babcock Ranch development in southwest Florida.

Lennar, the nation’s leading home builder, plans to launch sales in next year’s second quarter for Babcock National, a golf and country club community with house prices starting in the $200,000s.

The company previously introduced its first community at Babcock Ranch, called Trail’s Edge, a cluster of villas, executive homes and major homes with one- and two-story designs garages big enough for two or three cars.

Lennar’s Babcock National community will feature a swimming pool with waterfall, gym, sauna and tennis center, plus a community clubhouse and an 18-hole golf course designed by Gordon Lewis.

Babcock National will include a mix of homes including terrace condominiums, veranda condominiums, and luxury-coach, estate-style and executive houses.

The residences’ interiors will feature designer-style cabinetry, stainless steel appliances and quartz counter tops.

In January, the first residents started moving into their homes at Babcock Ranch, a solar-powered town under construction northeast of Fort Myers.

The master-planned development has a 440-acre photovoltaic solar power generation field, which Palm Beach Gardens-based developer Kitson + Partners built in partnership with Florida Power & Light. – Mike Seemuth

La Quinta Inn & Suites in Sebring

A Miramar-based firm acquired a low-occupancy hotel in Sebring for $7.25 million and plans $1.8 million of upgrades to the 10-year-old property.

RivieraPoint Invest + Develop paid about $94,000 per room for the 77-room La Quinta Inn & Suites hotel in an off-market transaction.

RivieraPoint assumed a $4.74 million loan from Wells Fargo Bank as part of the transaction.

The seller was Tampa-based Liberty Group, led by its chief executive officer Punit Shah, a part-owner of the Miami Marlins baseball team.

Rodrigo Azpurua, president and CEO of RivieraPoint, expects to raise the hotel’s average occupancy rate from 66 percent to 80 percent by upgrading the property’s rooms, lobby, gym, meeting rooms and façade.

“Our projections show we can achieve a 24 percent return on our investment in the next 5 years,” Azpurua said in a prepared statement. “The demand for well-positioned hotels in the area close to the Sebring International Raceway and many other attractions is strong.”

The La Quinta acquisition put RivieraPoint closer to its goal of owning 1,500 hotel rooms in the Southeast by 2020.

The company is now building a 155-room Radisson RED hotel near Miami International Airport, scheduled to open in mid-2019.

RivieraPoint is also is leading developer of suburban office space in South Florida, and its assets include the 73,000-square-foot Professional Center at RivieraPoint in Miramar.  – Mike Seemuth

A remodeled Aldi grocery store in St. Petersburg (Credit: Octavio Jones | Tampa Bay Times)

Discount grocer Aldi is about halfway through a project to remodel 83 stores in Florida by 2020 at a cost of $115 million.

More than 40 Aldi stores across the state will have been remodeled by the end of October, two years after the project began.

Remodeled stores in the Tampa area, for example, have brighter lighting and large signs showing the locations of such items as baked goods and dairy products.

Aldi’s remodeling work will make room for such popular products as kale-and-quinoa-crunch burgers, gluten-free bagels, kombucha and veggie noodles.

As Aldi refreshes its stores, the grocer also is striving to allocate 20 percent of its shelf space to organic and fresh products.

In recent months, Aldi’s stores have been stocking more of its private-label Earth Organic items, including meatless burgers, dairy-free ice cream and vegan cheese.

Aldi, which has more than 1,800 stores in 35 states, expects to have remodeled more than 1,300 of them by the end of 2020. [Tampa Bay Times] – Mike Seemuth

An illustration of money on a clothesline with the Vancouver skyline (Credit: Pixabay and iStock)

Vancouver’s red hot housing market has prompted authorities to introduce a series of transparency measures aimed at uncovering the owners of homes in Canada’s most expensive real estate market.

One new probe will scrutinize dirty money in the province of British Columbia’s real estate, horse-racing and luxury car sales industries, according to Attorney General David Eby who announced the investigation in late September, Bloomberg reported. Finance Minister Carole James also appointed an expert panel to examine money laundering in the housing sector.

These probes, which are expected to be complete by March, follow a similar review of the province’s casinos.

“There is good reason to believe the bulk of the cash we saw in casinos is a fraction of the cash generated through illicit activities that may be circulating in British Columbia’s economy,” Attorney General David Eby told reporters late last month. “We cannot ignore red flags that came out of the casino reviews of connections between individuals bringing bulk cash to casinos, and our real estate market.”

Similar calls to action have been made south of the border. Earlier this month, two U.S. senators — Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island — sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office, calling for an investigation into the potential vulnerabilities of existing U.S. money-laundering provisions as they pertain to real estate.

Last month, The Real Deal‘s quarterly magazine in South Florida dove into a $1.2 billion Venezuelan money laundering case in which federal authorities are looking to seize 16 high-end properties. [Bloomberg]—Kathryn Brenzel