In the fall of 2020, hedge fund manager Mark Brodsky did what many of his contemporaries in the world of finance and asset management were beginning to do: search for a waterfront estate in the South from Florida.
Brodsky, founder and president of the New York company Aurelius Capital Management and his wife, Eleanor Chan, Aurelius’ chief investment officer, approached Javier and Jennifer Cervera with a $27 million offer to buy their mansion at 301 Arvida Parkway, which was under construction in Coral Gables. Gables Estates.
A waterfront mansion on the same street was traded that year for $49 million, a near-record for single-family home sales in Miami-Dade County. The gated waterfront community was recently considered the most expensive neighborhood in the country, Bloomberg reported, citing Zillow data.
At the time, Javier Cervera, founder and president of Coral Gables-based Cervera Real Estate Ventures, wasn’t looking to sell. He and his wife started building their dream home in 2018, and it was almost complete. But they negotiated with Brodsky and accepted a sale offer in October 2020 for $28.5 million.
Just before the scheduled closing, Brodsky terminated the contract on April 21, 2021, triggering his lawsuit in June 2021, and the Cerveras’ countersuit filed in July 2021 regarding the $2.85 million deposit for the house. Last week, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Thomas Rebull ruled in favor of the Cerveras, granting the couple bail, along with interest, court costs and attorney’s fees, according to to Rebull’s order. The total amount could reach or exceed $5 million.
Brodsky, mentioned in a New York Times article as one of the “shrewdest hedge fund managers of his generation”, alleged in his complaint that construction “dragged on for months” and that once completed, the Cerveras failed to correct the defective items on the task list, thereby violating the contract.
The judge found that Brodsky failed to present a list of actionable tasks and that the house was built “in substantial compliance with the construction documents,” according to their contract.
The Cerveras’ attorney, Jorge Fors Jr. of the Fors Law Firm, said the judge’s order increases the confidence of buyers and sellers “that the contracts they sign will be honored.” He said everything was fine in the house.
“If you want to demand perfection, the contract must demand perfection,” he said.
Court documents also allege that after signing the contract for the Gables Estates home, Brodsky began aggressively pursuing the $25 million to $29 million purchase of a waterfront mansion in Hobe Sound , just north of Palm Beach County.
Brodsky’s attorney, Joy Spillis Lundeen of Bilzin Sumberg, declined to comment. Brodsky did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“If Mr. Brodsky had been allowed to cancel the contract,” said Fors, a former Coral Gables commissioner, “then it would create a lot of doubt for buyers and sellers in the market as to the end game, when you Have If you have worked hard, you can terminate the contract.
Cervera, who lives in the mansion with his family, said it’s not about money and he “prefers not to engage in litigation.” His company mainly invests in shopping centersand is separate from the Brickell-based system Cervera Real Estate brokerage that his mother Alicia Cervera and sisters Veronica Cervera Goeseke and Alicia Cervera Lamadrid own and operate.
“The other party tried to break its commitment, discredited my efforts and my performance, and the fruits of my labor,” he said of Brodsky. “I decided that I had to undertake the very arduous and arduous task of righting a wrong at considerable risk, because nothing is guaranteed. »
