Michael Shvo sold the Miami Beach site of the Raleigh hotel, abandoning a $2B redevelopment plan as his company faces a wave of lawsuits and debt troubles.

New York-based Nahla Capital paid roughly $270M to acquire the property, Bloomberg reported. It’s the second Miami development site Shvo’s eponymous development firm sold in as many months, marking a significant retreat by the high-profile but embattled developer who burst onto the Miami Beach scene with three pandemic-era proposals.

The Raleigh marked Shvo’s entry into the Miami market, but it stalled over the last two years as Shvo faced legal and financial hurdles outside the state. Miami Beach in 2020 approved a gut renovation of the hotel, an art deco icon that was built in 1940 and closed in 2017, and the construction of an adjacent condo tower.

A spokesperson for BH3 Management, which provided a $190M loan backed by the property in 2023, confirmed to Bisnow that the debt had been paid down as part of the sale but declined to provide additional details.

Marketing materials obtained by Bisnow in January showed Shvo was pitching the project to potential investors, although the developer insisted at the time that it wasn’t selling the site but was looking to recapitalize the debt.

The marketing push came roughly five months after Shvo laid off the majority of its South Florida-based staff. Jerry Piro, who was then Shvo's head of design, development and construction, told Bisnow at the time that the firm was “doing the fiduciary thing” and controlling costs as its Miami projects advanced to their next phase of development. Piro's LinkedIn profile indicates he left Shvo in August.

Shvo’s vision for the Raleigh included restoring the historic hotel and adding a 17-story condo tower with 40 luxury residences next door, with both properties managed by luxury operator Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. The project promised a private members club and Michelin-starred dining concepts.

Shvo marketed the condos as ultra-exclusive, bringing a New York-style vetting process to the buying experience that chafed some South Florida buyers. By December 2024, Shvo had sold just four units, with four others on hold, according to documents obtained by Bisnow.

The 3-acre Miami Beach development site at 1751, 1757 and 1775 Collins Ave. comes with 220 linear feet of ocean frontage. The redevelopment was originally supposed to be completed next year.

Neither Nahla Capital, led by Genghis Hadi, a former Carlyle Group executive born and raised in Dubai, nor Shvo responded to requests for comment Friday. Nahla’s interest in the site was first reported by Business Insider in July.

It is unclear whether the new owners plan to keep Shvo’s plan or propose something new.

Shvo purchased the site in 2019 for more than $219M, property records indicate. Partners on the development reportedly included Deutsche Finance America and German pension fund Bayerische Versorgungskammer, Germany’s largest pension fund.

In 2022, Shvo paid $39M for a Miami Beach site where he proposed The Alton, a mixed-use property with luxury residences, office space and ground-floor retail. The developer handed that site to Infinity Collective in September as part of a $28.2M deed-in-lieu of foreclosure deal.

Shvo’s last remaining project in Miami Beach is One Soundscape, a 5-story, 63K SF office building that was first proposed in 2022 and approved by the city in January. Development on the site at 1667 Washington Ave. has yet to begin.

Shvo’s development firm has faced legal attacks across its portfolio.

A private club operator sued over a partnership that would have established a club at the Shvo-owned Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco while condo owners at New York City's Mandarin Oriental Residences sued over unfinished work and lacking amenities.