{"id":221006,"date":"2026-04-06T20:07:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/221006\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:07:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:07:15","slug":"michael-sterns-mercedes-benz-condo-project-hit-with-foreclosure-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/221006\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Stern’s Mercedes-Benz Condo Project Hit With Foreclosure Suit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another one of JDS Development Group<\/a>\u2019s high-profile projects is the subject of a court dispute\u00a0after\u00a0its new lender filed an $80M foreclosure lawsuit on the site of the developer’s planned\u00a0Mercedes-Benz<\/a>-branded\u00a0condo tower.<\/p>\n

\"Placeholder\"\/<\/p>\n

\n Courtesy of The Boundary\n <\/p>\n

\n Site work for Mercedes-Benz Places was underway before JDS Development Group brought the carmaker on as its partner.\n <\/p>\n

An affiliate of The Cottonwood Group filed to foreclose on the site at 100 NE Eighth St. in Brickell less than a month after it acquired a bridge loan that was allegedly in default, according to its suit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court last week.<\/p>\n

An affiliate of JDS Development, led by Michael Stern<\/a>, purchased\u00a0the assemblage,\u00a0including city-owned property and adjacent land, for a total of\u00a0$24M in 2020<\/a>. Two years later, the developer landed an $86M acquisition and construction loan from Maxim Capital Group<\/a> for the project.<\/p>\n

In 2024, JDS announced its partnership<\/a> with the car company to brand the mixed-use tower as Mercedes-Benz Places in Brickell.\u00a0The SHoP Architects-designed building\u00a0is planned to reach 67 stories with\u00a0791 condos, a 174-key hotel and 200K SF of office space.<\/p>\n

But JDS’ affiliate, 191 SW 12 Owner LLC, didn’t repay\u00a0its loan upon its Jan. 15, 2025, maturity date, according to the suit. Maxim transferred that loan to Los Angeles-based Cottonwood affiliate CWRE SSF Flamingo Capital in March, the South Florida Business Journal reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of the action recently filed by a bridge lender related to a routine loan maturity, and are in active discussions with them to reach an amicable and swift resolution,\u201d a JDS Development representative told Bisnow in a statement. \u201cWe are fully committed to the long-term success of the project and we remain focused on completing it to the highest standard of excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team is in the process of finalizing a construction loan financing package to replace the bridge financing in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

A source close to the matter told\u00a0Bisnow\u00a0the loan is for\u00a0$755M, which would be one of the largest in Florida\u2019s history behind\u00a0Related Ross’ $772M loan<\/a> it landed last year for the 10 and 15 CityPlace office towers in West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n

The suit doesn’t directly name JDS or Stern. Cottonwood claims the borrower owes $80.4M in principal and interest and fees.<\/p>\n

The suit also names construction vendors who have filed liens against the developer. Six construction lien foreclosure suits have been filed against\u00a0191 SW 12 Owner LLC, which is managed by Stern, SFBJ reported.<\/p>\n

Holland & Knight attorney Christopher Ezell, who is representing Cottonwood in the suit, declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Stern\u00a0made a name for himself in NYC, developing the world’s skinniest skyscraper<\/a>, the\u00a01,428-foot-tall 111 W. 57th St. on Billionaires’ Row,\u00a0as well as Brooklyn’s tallest building before\u00a0losing it to<\/a> Silverstein Properties. The developer relocated to Miami Beach and is tied up in a handful of lawsuits\u00a0with his local projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The developer was hit with a lawsuit in December from an investor, Italian entrepreneur Gianluca Vacchi, claiming Stern\u00a0schemed to gain a $2.5M investment<\/a> for a development in Miami Beach.<\/p>\n

Vacchi also invested in the Mercedes-Benz tower, JDS’ upcoming Dolce & Gabbana Residences at 888 Brickell Ave. and\u00a0the $120M condo buyout<\/a> development at 1250 West Ave. in Miami Beach with Terra Group.<\/p>\n

Stern is also suing\u00a0the anonymous operator<\/a> of the website JDSPulse.com over its online “smear campaign.” At the time the suit was filed, the website was removed or inactive. It\u00a0is now back online and stating that “all such claims remain subject to judicial review and have not been conclusively proven.”<\/p>\n

Stern’s attorneys,\u00a0Stearns Weaver Miller’s Grace Mead and Joseph Onorati, withdrew from that suit in December due to “irreconcilable differences.” No replacements have been made, according to the docket in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another one of JDS Development Group\u2019s high-profile projects is the subject of a court dispute\u00a0after\u00a0its new lender filed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[100177,225,227,226,100173,100175,100176,42704,100174],"class_list":["post-221006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-cottonwood-group","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news","tag-jds-development","tag-jds-development-group","tag-maxim-capital-group","tag-mercedes-benz","tag-michael-stern"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}