WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL ®

(NORTH MIAMI, FL) -- Another large South Florida condo-oriented project has hit the foreclosure lawsuit corridor, this time in the city of North Miami.

Biscayne Landing owes lenders $196.3 million.  One of the lenders, Wells Fargo Bank, is trying to recover its $35 million portion of the total loan, according to Miami-Dade Circuit Court records.

Biscayne Landing is a mixed-use, 2,000-acre venture proposed for 6,000 condos and townhomes,  120,000 square feet of shops and restaurants, 80,000 square feet of offices, a waterfront town center and possibly a hotel.

The only completed building on the site, Oaks at Biscayne Landing, is named in a separate earlier foreclosure action. The suit involves the land lease on vacant land.

The long-troubled project was once regarded as the centerpiece for a major redevelopment of North Miami. It was originally envisioned as a community within a community,

Brian Street

Wells Fargo Bank is suing the project's owner, Biscayne Landing LLC, and the developer, Brian Street, a principal of Biscayne Landing LLC and CEO of Boca Developers.

According to court papers, the total debt was split into two in August. Wells Fargo, as the trustee for the holders of commercial mortgage-backed securities issued by Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp, is focusing on the $35 million junior debt in the foreclosure action.

Industry watchers in a position to know say another lender could possibly step in at this juncture and refinance or restructure the debt.

Deerfield Beach, FL-based Biscayne Landing holds the 200-year land lease from the city of North Miami that is the subject of the foreclosure. The Biscayne Landing site sits east of Biscayne Blvd between NE 137th Street and NE 151st Street.

The city-owned land, formerly a toxic landfill, is bordered by Biscayne Boulevard, Oleta River State Park, Florida International University's Biscayne Bay campus and the bay.

At one time Biscayne Landing was expected to be a cash cow, feeding money to the rest of the city to help in the construction of affordable housing and rehabilitation of older areas, according to city of North Miami sources.

Facing a property tax revenue shortfall, the city has had to change direction, putting off redevelopment to focus on the more immediate problem of a more than $5 million budget deficit.

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