Penn-Florida Companies has sold a 1-acre development site in Boca Raton for $27 million, following foreclosure proceedings on the property. The land, located at 375 East Royal Palm Road, was purchased by SobelCo, a real estate firm based in Boca Raton and led by Jeffrey Sobel. Public records and information from the real estate database Vizzda confirm the transaction.
SobelCo also acquired an adjacent 0.2-acre parcel at 343 East Royal Palm Road for $3.1 million from an entity managed by McFillin of Delray Beach. This brings SobelCo’s total investment to $30.1 million for 1.2 acres of developable land. The company secured a $10 million loan from Goldman Sachs to finance the acquisition.
According to marketing materials, the smaller lot is approved for a five-story luxury residential building with four units and a rooftop.
Penn-Florida, led by Mark Gensheimer, had previously planned to build a high-end assisted living facility with 193 units on the main site. The project received approval from the Boca Raton Planning and Zoning Board in 2017, after which Penn-Florida demolished an existing two-story building on the property. However, construction never began.
Records show that Penn-Florida bought the combined properties for $1.2 million in 2005 and later increased its borrowing on the land through City National Bank of Florida—raising its debt to $5.7 million through several loan modifications between 2019 and 2023.
In 2024, City National Bank of Florida transferred the loan to Safe Harbor Equity, a Miami Beach-based distressed debt investor led by Rafael Serrano. Safe Harbor filed foreclosure proceedings against Penn-Florida and Gensheimer after alleging default on the matured loan balance.
The recent sale resolved these foreclosure issues. Court filings indicate that Safe Harbor, Penn-Florida, and Gensheimer notified Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Carolyn Bell that they reached a settlement agreement; Judge Bell directed them to submit dismissal paperwork as part of court procedure.
Neither SobelCo nor Penn-Florida responded immediately to requests for comment regarding the transaction.
Penn-Florida has experienced financial challenges across multiple South Florida projects amid rising interest rates, increasing insurance premiums, and higher costs for construction and labor. Developers throughout South Florida are reportedly postponing or selling projects due to difficulties servicing floating-rate loans or securing refinancing options as banks reduce lending activity.
Last year saw Blackstone Mortgage Trust initiate a $145 million Uniform Commercial Code foreclosure against a Penn-Florida affiliate over its apartment building at 101 Via Mizner in Boca Raton after payment defaults occurred. In January this year, bankruptcy filings postponed an auction of that property; by July, federal bankruptcy court Judge Erik Kimball approved its sale for $235 million to a joint venture between Penn-Florida and multifamily syndicator Grant Cardone.
