Acore Capital Management has taken legal action against Jon Venetos, founder of Dallas-based Lurin Capital, seeking to collect $80.7 million from payment guaranties and other default-related expenses. The lawsuits, filed last week, follow Acore’s foreclosure on a dozen Lurin-owned properties in Florida earlier this year.
According to court records, Venetos personally guaranteed $394.4 million in loans from Acore. The lender claims his liability was triggered after he defaulted on the loans and allowed mechanics’ liens to be placed on the properties. Lurin Capital did not respond to requests for comment.
The payment guaranties are linked to loans on three Texas properties and 12 Florida properties, with the total loan amount for these assets reaching $383.6 million. The Florida portfolio began to be sold at foreclosure auctions in April.
Venetos is also facing a lawsuit from Select Securities Europe, a Luxembourg-based lender, which alleges he defaulted on 15 loans totaling $40.5 million.
Venetos and his wife Ashley started Lurin Capital in 2016 after he left hedge fund Citadel. On a podcast in 2022, Venetos said, “The opportunity to extract outsize returns with a relatively manageable amount of risk was far greater in real estate.”
Lurin’s business model focused on acquiring Class B apartment complexes, renovating them, raising rents, and selling them for profit. The company’s website claims ownership of 46 properties across five states, though some of these assets have faced foreclosure.
Rising interest rates have increased debt service costs on floating-rate loans and raised construction expenses for many operators like Lurin. In Texas, a surge in apartment development has led to lower rental rates and occupancy levels.
Industry experts expect continued distress in the Texas multifamily sector, with about $19 billion in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loans tied to multifamily properties set to mature over the next five years.
“The opportunity to extract outsize returns with a relatively manageable amount of risk was far greater in real estate,” Venetos said.
