After a five-year legal slugfest, New York developers Joseph and Meyer Chetrit have officially lost their grip on the storied Art Deco Tides Hotel, with a court-ordered foreclosure sale handing the keys to the lender. The 13-story, 45-room hotel at 1220 Ocean Drive, which has been shut since Hurricane Irma in 2017, was auctioned off after a final judgment that ballooned into the tens of millions of dollars. The sale caps a long, messy public fight over unpaid mortgage debt and disputed insurance money.
Safe Harbor wins auction as judgment tops $95M
According to Bisnow, Miami-based lender Safe Harbor Equity emerged as the winning bidder in the Miami-Dade online foreclosure sale, with the sale recorded at just $10,300. Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Thomas Rebull had entered a final judgment that pushed principal, fees, and interest to roughly $95.6 million and ordered the property sold to satisfy the debt. The county-run auction was over in about a minute.
Appeals, reversals and a rehearing
The legal road to that quick auction was anything but fast. As reported by The Real Deal, the Third District Court of Appeal in May 2024 overturned an earlier summary judgment that had favored the lender and sent the case back, paving the way for a later trial before Judge Rebull. Safe Harbor had acquired the loan from Ocean Bank in 2021 and has pushed to tack on default interest and other charges on top of the unpaid principal.
Insurance money dispute at the case's center
Court filings at the heart of the case accuse entities tied to the Chetrits of diverting roughly $2 million in insurance proceeds that were supposed to go toward repairing the Tides after Irma, according to coverage by The Real Deal. That reporting cites court papers stating that "there is no competent evidence supporting this claim and plenty of evidence rebutting it," highlighting the factual tug-of-war that helped send the matter up on appeal in the first place. The underlying loan dates back to 2014 and was eventually sold to Safe Harbor in 2021.
What was included in the foreclosure
The foreclosure did not stop at the hotel doors. The package swept in the Tides itself, nearby development parcels on Collins Avenue and a roughly 28,000-square-foot parking garage at 1155 Collins Avenue, according to Bisnow. Chetrit attorney Dennis Richard told Bisnow that "the appeal itself, of the final judgment, is proceeding with full force," and said other appeals are also still alive. For now, the properties remain closed, and whether they are renovated, sold off or redeveloped will hinge on how those remaining appeals shake out.
What comes next
With the sale now on the books, the next round will play out in the appellate courts and in any post-sale motions that could affect who ultimately holds clear title. The Chetrits face other litigation and regulatory scrutiny in different jurisdictions, and the Miami Beach setback adds to a growing list of high-profile creditor battles for the family. Neighbors and preservation advocates will be watching closely to see whether the Ocean Drive landmark is restored or repositioned, and what that will mean for the historic character of one of Miami Beach's most photographed stretches.
