Penn-Florida Companies has sold a 1-acre development site in Boca Raton for $27 million, resolving a foreclosure lawsuit tied to the property. The lot at 375 East Royal Palm Road was previously planned as an upscale assisted living facility.
According to public records and data from Vizzda, Penn-Florida, led by Mark Gensheimer, transferred ownership of the vacant land to SobelCo, a local real estate firm headed by Jeffrey Sobel. In addition to this transaction, SobelCo acquired an adjacent 0.2-acre site at 343 East Royal Palm Road for $3.1 million from an entity managed by McFillin of Delray Beach. The total purchase price for both parcels amounted to $30.1 million for 1.2 acres of developable land.
SobelCo secured a $10 million loan from Goldman Sachs to finance the acquisition, according to Vizzda records. Marketing materials indicate that the smaller parcel is approved for a five-story luxury residential building with four units and a rooftop.
Penn-Florida’s original plan called for constructing a 193-unit assisted living facility on the main site after obtaining approval from Boca Raton’s Planning and Zoning Board in 2017 and demolishing an existing two-story structure. However, construction never commenced.
The company had acquired the properties in 2005 for $1.2 million and later increased its debt on the land through several loan modifications with City National Bank of Florida, reaching $5.7 million by 2023.
In 2024, City National Bank of Florida reassigned the loan to Safe Harbor Equity—a Miami Beach-based distressed debt investor led by Rafael Serrano—which subsequently filed foreclosure proceedings against Penn-Florida and Gensheimer due to default on the matured loan.
The sale of the sites resolved this foreclosure dispute. On Monday, Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Carolyn Bell acknowledged receipt of notice from Safe Harbor Equity, Penn-Florida, and Gensheimer that they had settled the case; she ordered dismissal papers be filed as part of court procedure.
Representatives for both SobelCo and Penn-Florida did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Penn-Florida has faced financial difficulties across several South Florida holdings amid rising interest rates, higher insurance premiums, and increasing construction costs—factors contributing to many developers pausing projects or selling sites as they struggle with floating-rate loans or refinancing challenges while banks pull back on new lending.
Last year in Boca Raton, Blackstone Mortgage Trust initiated a $145 million UCC foreclosure against another Penn-Florida affiliate related to its 366-unit apartment complex at 101 Via Mizner after default concerns arose; bankruptcy proceedings postponed that auction earlier this year before federal bankruptcy court Judge Erik Kimball approved a $235 million sale involving Penn-Florida and Grant Cardone’s multifamily syndication venture in July.
