For the second time in less than a month, Shoma Group’s commercial portfolio got lighter — along with its overall debt.
The Coral Gables-based firm, led by power couple Masoud Shoajee and Stephanie Shojaee, sold a fairly new Hialeah mixed-use project to Yoram Izhak’s North Miami-based IMC Equity Group, records and real estate database Vizzda show.
As part of the deal, IMC Equity assumed a $65 million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that financed construction of Shoma Village, a complex of two eight-story apartment buildings with 304 units and a seven-story parking garage that Shoma completed in 2022. IMC Equity’s purchase also included two retail outparcels spanning 8,076 square feet built in 2023.
IMC Equity representatives did not respond to requests for comment. “Shoma Group has sold tens of thousands of units since 1985 and has never kept any assets longer than two or three years,” A Shoma spokespeson said in a statement. “This has always been our business model — develop a project and sell the assets. There has been no change in our strategy.”
Roughly three weeks ago, Shoma sold a 2.5-acre shuttered car dealership at 3650 Bird Road for $35 million, abandoning plans to redevelop the site into a two-tower mixed-use project with 748 apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail.
Shoma sold the property for $1 million above its $34 million purchase price in 2022. A joint venture between 13th Floor Investments and Related Group, two Coconut Grove-based firms, and New York-based LeFrak Organization bought the site.
The same day the deal closed, Shoma paid off a $38.8 million loan secured by the former dealership, records show.
Shoma and its top two executives have faced some turmoil in recent months. In December, a foreclosure complaint was filed against Masoud and Stephanie Shojaee and two trusts under his name for allegedly failing to repay a $10.5 million loan secured by the retail component of Shoma Village. The lender voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit two weeks after filing it.
In January, City National Bank filed a foreclosure lawsuit against Masoud Shojaee and a Shoma entity alleging default on loans totaling $14.1 million, including a mortgage on a Coral Gables condo where the Shojaees reside. The bank quickly dismissed the complaint and reinstated the loans after reaching a settlement.
Shoma is also facing a pending construction defects lawsuit by the condominium association for Ten30, a boutique three-story condominium with 33 units in Miami Beach that Shoma built in 2022.