Opus Place Site Taken Over By Lender, Newport's South Downtown Foreclosure Delayed
Two prominent Atlanta properties in distress were set to be put on the auction block Tuesday, and they reached two different outcomes.
New York developer Olympia Heights Management’s aspirations to build the Southeast’s tallest residential tower in the heart of Midtown collapsed on the Fulton County Courthouse steps Tuesday morning, when its lender submitted the only bid to acquire the prime parcel.
Miami-based Benmark Capital foreclosed on 98 14th St., a 4-acre site behind the 1180 Peachtree office tower and across 14th Street from the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta. The plot was where Olympia Heights planned No2 Opus Place, a 53-story luxury condominium and office project that never broke ground — despite years of claims that construction was afoot.
Benmark purchased the $40M loan in a credit bid during the foreclosure process on Tuesday, Benmark's attorney, Morris, Manning & Martin partner Lisa Wolgast, told Bisnow. Benmark was the only bidder for the site, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.
What is next for the site, which remains a hole in the ground, remains a mystery. A call to Benmark wasn't returned as of press time, and Roni Avraham, who spearheaded the project for Olympia Heights and at one time claimed the developer had pre-sold 70 units, couldn't be reached for comment.
Olympia Heights first bought the parcel for $22M in 2014 with plans for a three-tower project, including a condo tower reaching 730 feet. Olympia Heights is run by Shaya Boymelgreen, a New York developer who was at one point banned from selling condos in his home state.
Even after a groundbreaking ceremony in 2017, construction never started. Instead, the developer revised its plans a handful of times, with the final iteration a 1.8M SF tower with 182 condos and more than 200K SF of offices. Olympia Heights continued to refinance and increase its debt on the property until it secured a $40M bridge loan from Benmark in August 2022.
Another high-profile foreclosure that was scheduled for Tuesday has been delayed until January. BridgeInvest, the Miami lender that owns a $75M loan for Newport RE’s purchase of a swath of South Downtown properties, moved to foreclose last month, but attorneys for the firm postponed the Tuesday auction after bidding had opened, the ABC reported.
Law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, which is representing BridgeInvest, is delaying the foreclosure of 18 properties — including the 222 Mitchell St. office building and Hotel Row — until the start of the new year.
Messages to BridgeInvest weren't returned.
A lender named Salzufer Holdings put a notice of foreclosure on an additional 18 parcels controlled by Newport tied to two separate loans, including 10 Peachtree Street retail buildings connected to a $3.5M loan and seven retail buildings and two parking lots backed by a $4.7M loan, according to online foreclosure notices.
That foreclosure is scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the notice filed with Fulton County.
Newport purchased a swath of 50 independently owned properties, consolidated the ownership and planned for a redevelopment project dubbed South Dwntn, breathing new life into a long-struggling portion of the city.
The developer moved forward on transforming three buildings on Mitchell Street into 250K SF of offices and 70K SF of new retail space, with such tenants as Tyde Tate Kitchen and bowling concept Pins Mechanical Co. planning to open locations.
Despite an opening date for the first phase of Mitchell Street for early next year, Newport's investors decided to stop funding the project earlier this year, and construction delays mounted. A sale of the properties to Braden Fellman collapsed this fall, prompting the foreclosure notice.
