Two downtown Miami office towers are headed to a foreclosure auction after their owners fell behind on a hefty loan, capping a short and rocky run for a high-profile Flagler Street investment.
A Miami lender secured a $65.7 million foreclosure judgment against Stonerock Capital, clearing the way for an online auction of 44 West Flagler Street and 200 Southeast First Street on July 20, 2026. The Stonerock-led partnership bought the buildings in 2022 and has been wrestling with loan trouble since mid‑2024.
How the Owners Bought the Buildings
Stonerock Capital teamed up with Triple Double Real Estate to acquire the two-building portfolio in 2022 for roughly $56.7 million, in a deal brokered by Cushman & Wakefield. At the time, the strategy was pitched as a value-add play aimed at boosting downtown leasing, according to REBusinessOnline.
Foreclosure Judgment and Auction
An affiliate of Atlanta-based Ardent Companies financed the acquisition and later sued after the loan matured on June 1, 2024, accusing the owners of missing payments and failing to keep up with taxes. The court judgment covers roughly $41.1 million in unpaid principal, plus interest and fees that bring the tab to about $65.7 million. The buildings are now scheduled for an online foreclosure auction on July 20, 2026, as reported by The Real Deal.
The Buildings Themselves
The portfolio includes a 12-story, roughly 150,500-square-foot building at 200 Southeast First Street and a larger office tower at 44 West Flagler Street totaling about 172,000 square feet. The smaller property features a data center and ground-floor retail, while the Flagler tower sits across from the county courthouse and has been anchored by First Horizon Bank, according to reporting by Commercial Observer and local leasing notices at PROFILEmiami.
Why Lenders Are Moving Now
The case joins a growing list of troubled downtown office deals as owners confront maturing loans and a tighter lending environment. In the first quarter, Miami office leasing totaled roughly 918,000 square feet, and the downtown area logged a direct vacancy rate near 19 percent, according to figures compiled and cited in local reporting. With tenants chasing newer, amenity-heavy space instead of older Class B towers, refinancing has gotten tougher and judicial foreclosures more common, The Real Deal reports.
What Comes Next
The July auction will give Ardent or any outside bidder a shot at taking control of the towers. If the lender ends up as the winning bidder, it can decide whether to hold and manage the properties, recapitalize them, or flip them to a new investor. Observers frame the situation as part of a broader wave of central business district distress, as maturing loans collide with lower valuations and tighter credit, a pattern outlined in recent CRE Daily coverage of downtown office strain.
Local court filings and the auction listing are expected to reveal who shows up to bid and what price the buildings ultimately fetch. The result will serve as a bellwether for how downtown Miami’s older office stock weathers a cycle of higher interest rates and an ongoing tenant flight to newer, higher-quality space.
