Coral Gables apartments hit with foreclosure

BankUnited has filed a foreclosure lawsuit against two Coral Gables apartment buildings. According to Miami-Dade County Circuit Court records, the Miami Lakes-based bank filed the action on Wednesday against Venetian Townhomes, along with managing members Raul Benitez, Carlos Valera and Jorge Redondo.

It targets the 14-unit, 11,048-square-foot building at 920 Sevilla Ave., and the 18-unit, 22,044-square-foot building at 915 Palermo Ave., just blocks away from the historic Biltmore Hotel.

Venetian Townhomes bought the apartments for $6.5 million in 2006 with the help of a $4.6 million mortgage from BankUnited FSB, which has since failed. The loan was modified at $4.4 million in April 2009 – a month before the bank failed and its assets were transferred to the new BankUnited under a loss-sharing agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.