The court-appointed receiver managing defunct Location Ventures’ assets sold an unfinished Coconut Grove spec mansion for $17.5 million after fighting off a lender’s attempt to block the sale.
Records show Bernice Lee, the receiver overseeing Location Ventures affiliate Stewart Grove I LLC, sold the incomplete house at 3620 Stewart Avenue to JWY Trust, with local attorney Alexander Almazan signing on behalf of the buyer. The true buyer is unknown.
Lee was appointed receiver for Location Ventures in January after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued its founder, Rishi Kapoor, for allegedly defrauding 50 investors of $93 million. A series of scandals last year derailed Kapoor’s ambitions to ascend as a top South Florida developer, including lawsuits, foreclosures, and consulting fees to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
Kapoor’s planned spec development at 3620 Stewart Avenue was first listed for $24.9 million in 2022, Zillow shows. The mansion was meant to span more than 9,800 square feet, with six bedrooms, six bathrooms, four half-bathrooms, spa facilities and a pool, according to Location Ventures’ website. It was designed by Max Strang of Strang Architecture.
The listing was removed in May, according to Zilllow. That same month, lender Martin Halpern objected to Lee’s request to sell the incomplete home. Two trusts in Halpern’s name had lent Kapoor’s firm $4 million for the project, court records show. The first position lender, 3610 Stewart Acquisition, led by Robert Gutlohn in Coral Gables, also had a pending foreclosure complaint for an alleged $14.5 million mortgage debt, court records show. Gutlohn agreed to accept payment of $13.9 million from the sale of the home. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra approved the sale in June.
The same judge approved Kapoor’s request to list his Cocoplum home for $8.5 million earlier this summer, but didn’t allow his wife, real estate agent Jenni Frank Kapoor, to take the listing.
In November, U.S. Marshals seized the couple’s 68-foot yacht, just eight months after they bought the vessel.
As the SEC continues to investigate its case against Kapoor, it has subpoenaed the developer’s former CFO Daniel Motha, alleging he aided Kapoor in his fraudulent scheme.