Owner of Long-Delayed Mandarin Oriental Property in Boca Raton Files for Bankruptcy

Approaching the Mandarin Oriental property in Boca Raton on Federal Highway. (Photo: Boca Daily News)

The owner of the Mandarin Oriental hotel and residences property in downtown Boca Raton has filed for bankruptcy protection, placing the status of the long-delayed and uncompleted development in deeper limbo.

The ownership firm, Via Mizner Owner II LLC, filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida on Dec. 23, 2025, according to court documents. The filing stemmed from the debtor’s “inability to repay secured lenders,” including IG Romspen US Master Mortgage LP and Via Mizner Funding LP. The firms are owed $130 million and $80 million, respectively. A meeting of creditors was scheduled by the court to be held Jan. 29, 2026, according to documents produced since the initial filing last week.

Via Mizner will seek to reorganize the venture and continue operating to “protect the high market valuation of the property,” the filing said. The project would likely be valued at about $450 million upon completion. The filing lists the manager of property as Mark Gensheimer, CEO of Penn-Florida Companies, a Boca Raton-based development firm. Gensheimer has not received a personal salary from the development project, the filing went on to state.

Penn-Florida itself filed for bankruptcy in January 2025 to stave off a foreclosure effort from previous creditors, ultimately selling a $235 million majority stake in the residential portion of the project – which would consist of 366 condominiums – to high-profile investor Grant Cardone. The other portion of the project includes a 164 room Mandarin Oriental hotel. The luxury hotel chain itself is listed as a creditor, being owed $502,000. Numerous architectural, engineering and consulting firms are also listed as unsecured creditors, as well as the district court and Boca Raton, which is owed nearly $400,000 in back property taxes.

The Mandarin Oriental property, located along Federal Highway north of Camino Real, was approved as a 12-story project in 2015, with an estimated completion date of 2019. Construction has languished ever since, with varying accounts of progress and financial viability. Boca Raton officials have considered adopting new city ordinances that would manage the handling of long-delayed construction projects in the wake of the decade-long slog.