Mr. Coral Gables has a lot of debt on three Crafts Section homes
The commission race in Coral Gables Group 3 is strictly a matter of the less bad choice and some voters may want to hold their noses when they cast their ballots.
On the one hand, we have a Joe Carollo ally who is connected to multiple political action committees and loaned himself at least $60,000, of which $40K mysteriously turned up after it disappeared from Carollo’s PAC.
On the other hand, we have a soccer dad and real estate agent who fought hard for the controversial upzoning of the Crafts Section where he owns not two, but three houses. Well, two and a quarter. Menendez told Ladra he only owns 26% of MBP Malaga Holdings LLC, which is registered at his home address and owns the house next door.
Now we find out that Kirk Menendez has two of those homes mortgaged to the max. In fact, he has taken out three mortgages over the last 18 months on both homes totalling $900,000.
No wonder he wants to upzone and triple the value of his properties. He owes a lot of money.
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There are only two homes on his financial disclosure statement filed with the city: His late mother’s home, where he grew up, at 346 Malaga Avenue and a house he owns with a close family friend through an LLC at 323 Malaga. He doesn’t have to disclose his own home at 325 Malaga because it’s homesteaded and he doesn’t derive income from it.
But he sure stands to gain from the upzoning since these three properties will skyrocket in value. Not once. Not twice. But three times he’ll cash in.
Menendez has told everyone he has no plans to sell. But c’mon! Nobody fights that hard for a change of zoning so they can live next to a dentist’s office.
A lawyer who has let his Florida Bar license lapse (no, he was not disbarred), Menendez told Ladra that he mortgaged the homes so he could stay home with his mother, who had gotten Alzheimers. “I walked away from my career for the last two years so I could take care of her,” he said.
“I was going to make sure that, in her final years, she wasn’t going to be alone. Thank God, she died peacefully in her house.”
But Lydia Menendez died at 92 in 2019. And the mortgages are all taken the next year on January 2020, for $510,400 (for a house with a market value of $10K less than that), in March of 2020 for $350,000 and in October of 2020 for $40,000. People who know more about these things told Ladra that they are private lender loans.
Menendez said he was refinancing.
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“Families have mortgages. It’s what families do to take care of each other,” he said, adding that a cousin and her two children are living rent-free in his mother’s house at a time of need.”
But it looks like he’s been doing this for years. According to the mortgage and deed records at the Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts, Menendez has been refinancing his home — which has steadily increased in value — since 2000.
There is also a lawsuit pending, filed in February of this year, for anywhere between $35,000 and $50,000 by Portfolio Recovery Associates, which purchases non performing loans and is one of the largest debt buyers in the U.S. It’s probably credit card debt.
That’s something he did not disclose under liabilities in his financial disclosure form, because — according to City Clerk Billy Urquia — it’s for financial information through Dec. 31, 2020. The lawsuit was filed Feb. 10 of this year. The financial disclosure was filed on Feb. 24.
Menendez said there’s no reason to think he can’t manage the city’s budget.
“I’m handling my finances. My wife and I have taken care of our financing, our children, my mom. We’re fine,” he told Ladra, adding that Coral Gables residents won’t care about that.
“They need someone who cares and I’ve proven myself to be someone who cares for others,” said the longtime soccer coach at the War Memorial Youth Center. “I’ve given 40 years of service to our community.”
Coral Gables voters might care that Kirk is also represented by the same campaign consultant, Steve Marin, who has put two other commissioners on the Gables dais: Jorge Fors, Jr., and Mike Mena. If Menendez wins, does that mean Marin has three votes in the Gables?
Ladra doesn’t like Javier Baños, the other candidate in this race with the ties to Crazy Joe. He lied to me about the PAC that attacked his opponents and that just rubs me wrong. Political Cortadito endorsed Menendez in the first round. He is, after all, Mr. Coral Gables.
But Mr. Coral Gables is deep in debt — and I’m glad I don’t vote there. Other voters are telling Ladra that they, too, are having a hard time deciding.
40k Mortgage Kirk by Political Cortadito on Scribd
350k Mortgage by Political Cortadito on Scribd
510 k Mortgage by Political Cortadito on Scribd
Kirk Menendez vs Javier Baños is not as easy a decision as voters may think added by Ladra on
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