A short-lived partnership between Miami real estate broker and investor Emile Farah and Aventura businessman Amram Adar ended on a sour note when Farah sued Adar over a $17 million land sale in North Miami Beach.
Farah, who runs USA Lending and Realty, claims in the Miami-Dade Circuit Court lawsuit that the 18-acre land deal was part of a joint venture he and Adar formed in 2013 to acquire and flip properties. In the Sept. 24 complaint, Farah and his attorney Robert Stok state that Adar promised the broker a 10-percent equity stake and a 3-percent commission fee in these deals. Stok said Farah is owed at least $500,000 for the broker fee and “seven figures” for his equity stake.
Adar and his brother-in-law Jacob Elharar, who is also named in the suit, control the Delaware-registered company Moore 77 LLC that bought the land at 15780 West Dixie Highway. They purchased the acreage from Tampa-based Antigua at NMB Development, according to the suit.
Adar said he is unaware that Farah is suing him and Elharar. He denied the North Miami Beach land was included in his partnership with Farah.
“I never gave him a promise of 10 percent on that property,” Adar said, adding that Elharar owns 100 percent of Moore 77. “I believe Emile is due a referral fee and the buyer, my brother-in-law, offered him $25,000.”
According to Farah and Stok, the partnership between the broker and Adar focused on properties in Brickell and surrounding neighborhoods. Eventually, they branched out as far north as Fort Lauderdale and as far west as Naples. The lawsuit claims the ex-partners had numerous contracts to buy properties together.
Adar, who moonlights as a wedding singer and released an album in 2011, disputes that claim.
“Nothing happened with those deals,” Adar said. “We always tried to do something, but it didn’t work out.”
Farah said Adar took advantage of him by working out of his Brickell office and using his real estate connections. In the case of this deal, Farah claimed that in March, Boynton Beach-based real estate broker Rick Marchetta came by the office, inquiring if Farah had any listings in the neighborhood. Farah said he instantly recognized Marchetta as the broker who represented Antigua, the previous buyer of the 18-acre lot. In 2004, Farah represented a former owner who flipped the land to Marchetta’s client, who paid $6.1 million for the designated brownfield site. The land was previously used by a gas distributor and would require state-mandated environmental remediation before redevelopment can occur.
Marchetta “told me he had it listed and that his client was looking to sell it,” Farah said. “I introduced him to Adar.”
When reached, Marchetta declined comment, citing the pending lawsuit.
Farah said he allowed Adar to handle negotiations, never suspecting he was going to get cut out of the deal.
“He was still working out of my office when they closed,” Farah said. “He kept promising to bring me the check. Then he disappeared.”
A summons was issued to all defendants in the case on Sept. 29, according to court records.
Creating a South Florida partnership that unites two real estate dynasties, Richard LeFrak, chairman and CEO of LeFrak, and Jeffrey Soffer and Jackie Soffer, principals of Turnberry Associates, said they have entered into a joint venture to develop Biscayne Landing into a master planned community.
The 183-acre site, at 15045 Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami, represents the largest undeveloped parcel of land east of Biscayne Boulevard in South Florida. It is zoned for 4,390 residential units and more than 1 million square feet of retail and commercial space. The joint venture partners did not disclose the financial terms of their partnership to develop what could be a $1 billion project.
During a recent University of Miami Real Estate Impact Conference in Miami, LeFrak called Biscayne Landing “a generational land purchase,” and referred to an anonymous “ally” he would be bringing in to help him develop the site.
As the conference’s keynote speaker, he called the massive development the “last great thing I have in me.” Adjoining Oleta River State Park, the project will have lots of green space, jogging and bike trails, a lifestyle shopping center, school and athletic facilities, he said.
“It’s designed as a community for people who live here,” he said, “not for people who come for three weeks of the year.”
LeFrak and Soffer said they intend for the community to become a landmark destination and driving force for growth and progress in North Miami — not far from Aventura, where the Soffers’ father, Don Soffer, created a community from former swampland.
Over the past 50 years, Turnberry Associates has overseen and developed 785-acres of land, including Aventura Mall, Porta Vita, Turnberry Village, Turnberry Isle Resort and Country Club, Turnberry Ocean Colony, as well as the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and various other properties.
“Turnberry Associates has six decades of experience in developing hospitality, residential, retail and commercial properties in South Florida as well as nationally and internationally, making them an ideal partner for us to jointly develop this site,” LeFrak said in a statement.
LeFrak, who is based in New York and also owns a condo in Miami Beach, spearheads a family company founded in 1901, which has been involved in more than 400 buildings and 40 million square feet of real estate across the United States. His portfolio here includes the soon-to-open 1 Hotel & Homes South Beach on the site of the former Gansevoort Hotel.
“This is an exciting opportunity for two of the country’s leading real estate companies to develop an unprecedented master planned community and create a new skyline in South Florida,” Jeffrey Soffer said in a statement. “Both of our relationships will be leveraged to build something that has never been seen before in this market.”
A former landfill, Biscayne Landing languished for many years after an attempt to develop the site fell apart early last decade. Developer Michael Swerdlow sold his stake in the mixed-use project to Boca Developers in 2005. The company was not able to get the project started before the real estate and financial markets collapsed. Swerdlow helped revive the development in 2012, forming a partnership with LeFrak to build the master-planned project over a 16-year span. North Miami council members approved a 99-year-ground lease for the site in May 2012.