Duprey sells hotels to meet TT$30m debt

(Trinidad Guardian) Former CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey and his wife, Sylvia Baldini, have sold three multi-million dollar hotels in Miami to prevent foreclosure by a Florida bank which they owed TT$30 million in mortgage payments. The three hotels were under a company registered as Sable Resorts Inc. The sale was made last April 5.

The Florida Department of State Division of corporations lists Duprey and Baldini as the only two officers and directors of Sable Resorts Inc with Duprey having signed the last annual report of the company submitted in December 2012. The properties were sold to a Swedish investor, Par Sanda, for US$4.9 million. Iberiabank of Miami had filed a foreclosure lawsuit in 2011 against Sable Resorts and Duprey over US$5.6 million in mortgages that had secured four hotels.

The bank won the judgment and the court ordered that the properties be sold via auction before the Swedish investor offered to buy the property. The three hotels are listed as:
• The Martindale, an 11,453-square-foot complex with 18 art deco rooms and a pool at 3016 Bayshore Drive.
• The Seaside Motel, an 8,582-square-foot resort with 22 units and a pool at 350 N. Birch Road.
•The Sandy Shores Motel at 3008 Bayshore Drive with 6,064 square feet and a pool.

Duprey and his wife were allowed, however, to retain The Front Hotel and apartments, a 7,329-square-foot complex at 2908 Bayshore Drive, valued at US$1.3 million. Sources close to the event say Duprey himself signed the deed and that Florida attorney, Daniel Jacobson, acted on behalf of Sable Resorts.

Duprey is said to have lost significantly in the sale but T&T Guardian sources could not disclose for how much he had initially purchased the properties. Neither Duprey nor his attorney could be reached for comment yesterday.