Business and Tax Lawyer Blog

The Sawgrass Marriott Golf Resort and Spa was purchased in 2006 for $220 million with financing from Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Co. Revenue for the luxury property fell from nearly $60 million in 2008 to just over $40 million in 2009. Even though the resort continued to operate profitably in 2009, the drop in revenues caused the owners to lose liquidity and seek debt restructuring.

In October 2009, Goldman Sachs said that it would stop negotiating debt restructuring and foreclose on the property. That has forced the Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida resort to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. While resort management has said that they plan to continue normal operations, the two Irish investment partnerships that own the hotel filed bankruptcy petitions with the US Bankruptcy Court in Jacksonville, Florida. According to court records, the resort hopes to continue operating profitably even while in bankruptcy proceedings.

The large resort facility features over 400 guest rooms, six restaurants and offers hotel guests access to the courses at the PGA TOUR’s nearby Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass. The resort employs 435 people, and according to a Marriott spokesperson, the proceedings will not affect any employment issues. A PGA TOUR official added that the bankruptcy will have no bearing on the PGA TOUR’s Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, which is owned and managed by a subsidiary of the PGA TOUR.

Find out more about this story at Lender’s foreclosure proceedings forced Sawgrass Marriott into Chapter 11.

If you live in the Jacksonville, Florida or Orlando, Florida area and have a business legal matter, please contact Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. for business legal counsel.

Florida's Task Force on Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Cases was established to help the state of Florida respond to the foreclosure crisis that has hit the state in the latest recession. The fifteen member task force made its final report and recommendations to the Florida state supreme court in August of 2009. In light of the task force's findings, the court has issued an administrative order to enact the recommendations.

One of the key elements of the order is a provision for creating a statewide foreclosure mediation program. Under the order, any foreclosure on a residential homestead property with a loan that originated under federal truth in lending regulations will be required to go into mediation unless both parties agree otherwise.

The goal of the order is to encourage parties to mediate outside of the courts, which should ease the burden on the already strained court system. At issue is whether there are enough professionally trained mediators to hear all of the suits and whether the new requirements would cause the already slow foreclosure process to a come to a virtual standstill.

You can read more about the Florida foreclosure crisis and the supreme court's response to it at Florida Supreme Court Orders Mediation in Foreclosure Cases!

If you need an attorney to assist you in defending your rights, please contact Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. for legal counsel.