Jorge Ramos’ $50 million winning bid for a distressed Blue Lagoon development site owned by developer Caroline Weiss has run off the rails, and efforts to quickly secure a new buyer came up short this week.
Two entities controlled by Weiss that own the 7-acre assemblage at 4865 Northwest Seventh Street tried to salvage the deal by having Ramos, who heads the Miami-based real estate firm Incomreal, assign his purchase agreement to Quantum Advisors, led by Seyed and Gabrielle Moghani in Miami.
Quantum offered to buy the site with $35 million in financing from Miami-based Benworth Capital.
But U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Mark on Thursday denied the request by the Weiss entities to delay the closing. Mark also denied the transfer from Ramos to Quantum, a ruling that likely killed the funding source for the deal. Mark previously extended the closing deadline to Sept. 24.
“Our funding dies with the court’s deadline,” Benworth’s Henry Jimenez wrote in an email included in the Weiss entities’ motion. “We won’t continue to entertain this loan past said date.”
Joel Aresty, the bankruptcy lawyer for the Weiss entities, declined comment. Ramos and Adeena Weiss Ortiz, Weiss’ daughter who is also a lawyer representing the two entities, did not respond to requests for comment.
The Weiss entities subsequently filed an emergency motion for a rehearing and a notice of appeal, noting that Weiss was hospitalized two days before the rescheduled closing on Sept. 24.
Weiss “is in critical condition, intubated and unconscious, and unable to communicate or to execute any document, and no physician has provided a timeline for recovery,” the court documents state. Weiss Ortiz also was unable to attend the scheduled closing because of her mother’s illness.
What happened to Ramos’ $50M bid?
In August, Ramos’ firm Incomreal won bankruptcy auction for the development site near Miami International Airport, topping a $23.4 million credit bid by RIC, a Toronto-based entity that acquired a 2025 foreclosure judgment in favor of TIG Romspen against the two entities. Ramos’ bid was structured as cash and included a 50-50 joint venture with the Weiss entities.
But the Weiss entities alleged in a lawsuit filed Sept. 3 that Ramos lied in a declaration submitted to the debtors and in court proceedings about having more than $50 million in immediately available funds in separate accounts with Bank of America and Charles Schwab. In reality, the funds are owned by two individuals and an entity that Ramos managed.
Ramos indicated that he had authority to direct the funds toward the purchase, but the account holders never committed their money to Ramos’ bid, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit accuses Ramos of committing fraud by making false representations to win the auction, displace the backup bidder and take the property off the market at a time when the court-supervised process had established a $50 million valuation.
The alleged damages include the difference between Ramos’ bid and the amount ultimately realized from a sale, plus carrying costs, accrued interest, administrative expenses and professional fees, less the $1 million deposit.
Ramos and Incomreal had not publicly responded to the allegations as of the emergency motion’s filing. The allegations have not been proven in court.
A long-running quagmire
The nuked purchase marks another turn in a long-running dispute over the Blue Lagoon site, which the Weiss family has owned since the 1970s.
Weiss obtained city approval in 2019 for a mixed-use project, with the latest plans calling for 410 hotel rooms, 829 apartments and 1,380 parking spaces. A TIG Romspen affiliate sued in 2023, alleging the entities had failed to pay a $13.1 million mortgage and property taxes.
Weiss Ortiz also lost two previous lawsuits contesting her mother’s sole control of the entities. The daughter accused Weiss of committing fraud and trying to cut her and another sister out of the property’s ownership.
Weiss Ortiz also alleged that her mother did not have the authority to take out the $21.3 million bridge loan with TIG Romspen that the entities allegedly defaulted on.
