Foreclosure Suit Filed Against Developer Of 41-Acre Palm Beach Mixed-Use Project
Brian Tuttle’s plans to create a sprawling mixed-use community in Royal Palm Beach hit what he described as “a little bump in the road” this week after a foreclosure action was filed.
A 41-acre site inside the Tuttle Royale community is facing foreclosure after Tuttle Land Investments stopped making payments on three mortgages totaling $38M. The short-term debt originated in 2021 had the term extended twice before the original lender, Fort Lauderdale-based Fuse Group, ultimately sold the debt to an investor who filed the foreclosure action.
“Interest rates have doubled, insurance has quadrupled,” Tuttle told Bisnow in an interview Wednesday. “It makes it very challenging to find new lending to come in under these circumstances.”
Tuttle first defaulted in September by failing to make a $353K payment, and all the loans have since matured, according to a suit filed in Palm Beach County civil court and recorded by property intelligence platform Vizzda. Fuse Group sold the debt to an entity named Tuttle Royal Lender LLC in June 2024.
The loans cover the planned site of Main Street at Tuttle Royale on Southern Boulevard near State Road 7. The project includes 401 apartments mixed in an outdoor retail center that is set to anchor the entire 200-acre Tuttle Royale development.
Tuttle said he's working with two equity partners who are each considering investing $100M into the project. Two banks have offered refinancing terms for the outstanding debt, although a final deal hasn't been reached, he said.
Those conversations give Tuttle confidence that he will be able to resolve the suit within 60 days and break ground on the Main Street Project within three months.
“This lawsuit comes as no surprise,” Tuttle said. “We feel the lawsuit is partially motivated to get us to hurry up, get it refinanced and get moving down the road.”
Kluger Kaplan attorney Josh Rubens, who filed the suit on behalf of the lender, declined to comment. Tuttle Royal LLC was incorporated in Delaware in March and limited records make it unclear who the true holder of the debt is.
“All we know is who the lender's lawyer is,” Tuttle said when asked if he knew who purchased the debt on his properties.
The lawsuit is seeking to recover just under $35M in unpaid principal, any missed interest payments and attorney’s fees. It asks that a receiver be appointed to manage the property and its potential sale.
Tuttle won approval for Main Street at Tuttle Royale last April. The plans cover 341K SF of commercial space, including a 22K SF grocery store, 77K SF of restaurant space, 55K SF of retail, a bowling alley and a 915-seat movie theater. The project’s estimated cost is $550M.
Portions of the broader Tuttle Royale development are already complete, including the 392-apartment Pointe at Southern built by Related Group. Tuttle’s firm also partnered with Lynd Development on the nearly finished Villas at Tuttle Royale, a collection of 401 apartments and 55 townhomes.
FCI Residential has started construction on an 11-building complex with 318 residences that is slated for delivery in 2026. K. Hovnanian Homes has a fourth parcel under contract with plans for 100 single-family homes, Tuttle told The Palm Beach Post.
Only the mixed-use project site is part of the foreclosure action, Tuttle said. The suit names Lynd Development Group and its CEO, David Lynd, along with landscape architects Urban Design Studio, as having potential lien claims.
The planned mixed-use project at Tuttle Royale has been described as the CityPlace of the West, a nod to the mixed-use corridor that Stephen Ross of Related Co. is redeveloping in Downtown West Palm Beach, which is on the eastern side of Palm Beach County.
Tuttle previously told The Palm Beach Post that the development would be “the hangout spot for all the western communities” in the county.
