Downtown Miami Condo Company Files For Bankruptcy Just In Time To Avoid Foreclosure
Filing for bankruptcy protection is not just for people who live paycheck to paycheck. Plenty of high-net-worth individuals, including some celebrities who chose to make Florida their home even though their fame extends throughout the world, have filed for bankruptcy. The right to file for bankruptcy protection applies not only to individuals but also to corporations. Think about the big companies that have been around for your entire life; most of them have experienced financial hardship at some point, and some of them managed to bounce back by filing for bankruptcy protection. One of the advantages of a bankruptcy filing, both for individuals and for businesses, is that it can halt foreclosure proceedings if you have defaulted on a mortgage loan. Individuals can file for chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy, but chapter 11 bankruptcy is especially for businesses. If your business real estate properties are in danger of foreclosure, contact a Miami chapter 11 bankruptcy lawyer.
Harvey Hernandez and His Real Estate Empire’s Many Reversals of Fortune
Centro Miami is a condominium tower in downtown Miami; it belongs to Centro NGD Holdings, which is one of several companies owned in full or in part by Harvey Hernandez. The building has nine condominium units, approximately half of which are occupied. Therefore, it generates income, but not enough to keep up with its mortgage payments. Its mortgage lender, PS Holdings, initiated foreclosure proceedings and eventually won a judgment against Centro, which Centro was unable to pay. The building was scheduled to be sold at auction on February 8, 2002, but Centro NGD Holdings filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy several days earlier, thus halting the foreclosure sale.
Hernandez’s financial problems extend far beyond the fact that some of the Centro units are vacant. He is also a partner in NGD Homesharing, which has seen its share of conflict among its partners. In early 2022, a court in Miami issued a judgment against Hernandez, ordering him to pay $963,000 to Cindy Diffenderfer, who once owned a 10 percent share of NGD Homesharing and was employed as its chief marketing officer. Diffenderfer and Hernandez had been involved in a legal dispute since 2019, when he fired her and then failed to pay her the amount he owed her to buy out her share of ownership interest. Diffenderfer alleged that Hernandez had the ability to pay her the required settlement amount in 2019, but he chose not to. She presented evidence that he spent at least as much as he owed her on personal expenses such as leisure travel, cosmetic surgeries, and yacht fuel. The bankruptcy filing does not spell the end of financial hardships for Centro Miami and Hernandez’s other companies, but it buys them needed time to get the money to pay their creditors.
Contact a South Florida Debt Lawyer About Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
A South Florida debt lawyer can help you if you are in danger of losing a commercial real estate property because of overdue mortgage payments. Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Miami, Florida to discuss your case.
