German investor buys foreclosed hotel note for half off
A German investor bought the distressed note on a Lauderdale-by-the-Sea hotel and apartment property for less than half of the bank’s foreclosure judgment.
Ptolsemaios Property paid $1.65 million to Fifth Third Bank for the mortgage to El Mar Place Developers on Dec. 30, according to Leyla Semenov, a director with Fort Lauderdale-based KW Commercial who arranged the deal. She said it was an all-cash transaction.
The price represents a 58 percent discount from the $3.9 million foreclosure judgment Fifth Third won against El Mar Place in December and a 53 percent discount from the $3.55 million mortgage it granted the developer in 2006. Ptolsemaios is set to take control of the property on March 9 unless a higher bidder shows up at the foreclosure auction cheap business cards.
The properties, at 4321-4341 El Mar Drive, are a block west of the beach. They contain 30 units, with 27 licensed as hotel and the other three as multifamily. The hotels are called the Beach Apartments and the Eastwood Inn.
Semenov said Ptolsemaios officials have experience operating hotels and will make repairs to the properties.
“My client will repair it and use it for hotel purposes, and then market it in Europe and locally,” she said.
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