Multifamily distress has been simmering all year for Lurin Capital, and it’s reaching a boiling point with founder Jon Venetos getting slapped with new lawsuits on a near-weekly cycle.
In the latest for the troubled apartment landlord, lender Vista Bank joined Acore in the hunt for Venetos over personal guaranties. Vista sued Venetos, claiming he personally guaranteed a $10.3 million loan Vista provided for the purchase of a Fort Worth apartment complex.
There’s a fraud element to Vista’s accusation, too. In the suit, the lender accused Venetos of “attempting to obtain credit at another financial institution using false, altered, or fraudulent account statements of Vista.”
That makes two lenders going after Venetos for debt remaining after the foreclosure process. Acore is asking for an $81 million judgment related to a $394 million loan tied to properties in Florida and Texas.
Since the end of October, Venetos has been hit with a lawsuit from Fannie Mae, accusing him of defaulting on a $77.2 million loan tied to a Houston apartment complex. While some floundering multifamily investors can blame distress on interest rate hikes and floating-rate loans, that’s not the case with this debt, which had a fixed rate of 5.1 percent. Plus, Lurin is on the receiving end of a temporary restraining order that ordered residents of a Lurin-owned property in Plano to vacate due to unsafe conditions, including lack of access to water, sewer or gas.
The list of aggrieved parties is adding up; lenders and investors want their money back, and residents of the aging apartments Lurin still owns are forced to make do in the properties left to waste.
Hard times for Harwood
Harwood International was dealt another critical blow. Gabriel Barbier-Mueller’s firm was trying to hold together its office empire until its next project, Harwood No. 15, could be built. The nationally prominent law firm Jones Day, which occupies 133,000 square feet of another Harwood building and was set to anchor the new project, according to several sources.
The news is the latest rough patch in a tough year for the Uptown landlord, which has faced three recent office building foreclosures and lost two properties to lenders so far.
Austin’s other side
Texas has seen a sharp downturn in home valuations, and Austin is leading the pack. The former tech boomtown, which had meteoric growth during the pandemic, has suffered a 20 percent decline in home values, according to Zillow’s Zestimate function. The rest of the Texas Triangle hasn’t fared well either. The top five cities for home valuation losses include Austin, San Antonio and Dallas.
Another look at Tesla deal
Not sure if the dip in home values has folks in Travis County, home of Austin, getting cranky over its deal with Elon Musk, but the locals are holding up Tesla’s tax incentives. The EV giant has paid $19 million in county property taxes since 2021; per a 2020 agreement, it’s eligible for rebates of up to 80 percent. However, the agreement caps the percentage of “contingent” workers — contractors and temporary staff — Tesla can count toward its job totals. For the first decade of the contract, just 30 percent of qualifying full-time roles can be held by contingent workers. Tesla, however, is refusing the provide that information.
Sharp sense of history
A Houston home once owned by fraudster Frank Sharp sold after asking double the price of its last trade. The 11,200-square-foot mansion at 2307 River Oaks Boulevard was last listed for $16 million. The seller, steel magnate Daniel Benditz, bought the property in 2015 when it was asking $7.9 million. Until 1984, the home belonged to Sharp, the developer behind the Oak Forest neighborhood and Sharpstown, the city’s first master-planned subdivision. He was found guilty of a stock fraud scheme that brought down several prominent Texas politicians in the 1970s.
Saks says downtown Neiman to stay put for now
In February, Saks Global gave the Neiman Marcus flagship store in downtown Dallas just weeks to live. A coalition of downtown stakeholders put up a fight to preserve the historic store, prompting Saks to change its prognosis and allow the store to stay open until the end of the year. Saks announced the store will stay open past the new year as discussions continue about the fate of the building.
Kazakh firm hits Houston
Kazakh developer BI Group is making its debut in Houston. The North American arm of the firm based in Kazakhstan’s capital Asana is partnering with local firm Vita Group to build The Winford, a 26-unit for-sale townhome project at 5821 Winsome Lane. BI Group’s first Texas project follows its launch of two projects in Miami.
Read more
Another blow for Harwood: Jones Day pulls out of future project
River Oaks manse tied to 1970s scandal sells after asking $16M
Tesla’s tax breaks stall as Travis County demands clearer job data
Saks keeps Neiman’s downtown Dallas’ flagship alive, for now
Central Asia’s BI Group targets Houston with Galleria-area townhome play
